Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that the states and territory governments have agreed to allow up to 1500 more Australians to return to the country each week, under changes announced to the capping of international arrivals due to COVID-19 border restrictions.
Mr Morrison said the number of returning travellers will be boosted to allow the return of nearly 6,000 Australians each week, up from the existing cap of 4,000 that was introduced in mid-July amid escalating coronavirus situation in Victoria and concerns of contagion in other states.
Highlights:
Mr Morrison said the time has come to lift caps and bring Australians home, but the process of repatriation will be undertaken in a “staged way.”
“New South Wales will move - take an additional 500 by Monday week, so that's 27 September. Queensland and Western Australia, on that same day, will be taking an additional 200 per week from 27 September.
“By 4 October, Queensland will then move to that 400-500 extra. So, they'll increase it by 300 again. And by 11 October, WA will also go to that 500 extra a week,” the prime minister told the media after the national cabinet meeting on Friday.
South Australia has already agreed to increase its capacity by 360 per week.
‘1500 to 2000 more will not make a difference’
More than 600,000 residents have returned to Australia ever since the coronavirus prompted the government to close its international borders.
But there are still over 24,000 Australians living overseas who are anxiously waiting for their turn to return home, out of which at least 10,000 are reportedly stranded in India alone.
‘Repatriation of Australians is a national responsibility’
Mounting pressure on the Morrison government, Opposition leader Anthony Albanese today demanded the federal government to swing into action. He said repatriation Australians is not the job of the states but is a “national responsibility.”
“This is a national responsibility. Some people may think it's acceptable for the national leader of this country to pass off that responsibility to the states as if it's nothing to do with him. I, as the alternative leader of Australia, not of a state, would not conduct myself in such a way,” he said during a press conference.
Impact on temporary visa holders with exemption approvals:
Also feeling the pinch is an increasing number of temporary visa holders in India who have received exemptions from the travel ban, some of whom have succeeded after seeking exemptions on multiple occasions.
Source: SBS Punjabi
BY: AVNEET ARORA
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