Highlights
- Scott Morrison has said Australia will not lift caps on international arrivals
- Australia has capped international arrivals to 4000 per week
- PM Morrison said the National Cabinet will review it ‘every fortnight’
Prime Minister Morrison on Friday, after the National Cabinet meeting, said, “Right now when you are looking to manage the risk in quarantine, I agree and that’s why I am not lifting the caps currently as they exist on airports at the moment, in our major capital city centres.”
“I still want to stress that 4000 Australians are still returning every week. And we have got tens of thousands of people who have been going through quarantine as well from overseas and that is particularly been done by the New South Wales government," the Prime Minister said during the press conference.
“And right now as they have been seeking to get on top of that outbreak, it is in our view and of course the other state government who are affected, that right now it is not a wise decision to lift those caps.”
Listen to what the Prime Minister said on lifting the cap on international arrivals:
LISTEN TO
“I am not lifting the caps”: PM Scott Morrison says on overseas arrivals
SBS Hindi
21/08/202002:18
He, though, added that his government will be reviewing the cap every fortnight and there was scope to increase the numbers after the situation came under control in Victoria and the two big states –New South Wales and Victoria had the capacity to take in more people.
“So we will review them again in a fortnight from now. And once Victoria, I think and we can be even more confident with New South Wales situation, which is very good, then I am hoping we would be able to make further room there.
“But right now, on the balance of risk, we need to keep those caps, where they are.”
Deborah Tellis with her daughter Eysha Tellis, who have been unable to return from India to Australia since June 2020 Source: Supplied
Almost 19,000 Australians stranded overseas
Deb Tellis, an Australian who works as a teacher in Bengaluru, India, is one of the many stranded overseas.
Ms Tellis bought tickets for herself and her daughter to fly back to Australia in August but due to cap on international arrivals, her flight has been rescheduled to September.
"I finished up my contract in June and shipped all my belongings as I had to vacate the house. I bought the tickets in July to fly in August but with the cap, the flight has now been rescheduled," Ms Tellis told SBS Hindi.
"We had no place to stay. I stayed with an expat friend for a month and then she too left for her home country, Netherlands on an evacuation flight. Now, I am living in a place which belongs to my friend's friend. I don't even know her. I did like to return home now," she says.
On Thursday, the Select Committee on COVID-19 heard 18,800 Australians are stranded overseas.
The Department of Foreign Affairs told the Committee almost 3000 were in a 'vulnerable' situation, whether it be personal, financial or medical.
Many of those stranded – 7500 – are stuck in India, while significant numbers are also stranded in the Philippines, South Africa and Vietnam.
So far the Federal Government had organised about 64 repatriation flights, of which 45 flights were from India alone, the committee was told.
In July, Prime Minister Scott Morrison reduced the number of overseas arrivals from 6500 to 4000 per week following a second wave of COVID-19 infections in Victoria and amid concerns raised by other states about executing the hotel quarantine program.
Currently, overseas arrivals in Sydney are capped at 350 passengers per day. Arrivals in Perth are capped at 525 per week, Brisbane and Adelaide are both capped at 500 per week, while Hobart and Melbourne are not accepting international arrivals at all.
