Helping Australians return home

The Australian
Government continues to work tirelessly to ensure we get as many Australians
home by Christmas as possible.

Almost 426,600
Australian citizens and Permanent Residents have travelled into Australia since
the Government recommended that people reconsider the need to travel abroad on
13 March 2020.

The process to help
re-book passengers travelling to Sydney from San Francisco began last night
with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and
Communications working speedily with the airline to facilitate exactly that.

This process was well
under way by this morning and contrary to claims made by Labor today, had
nothing to do with their Tweets. Because this plane did not take off or arrive,
the caps allocated for that flight have rolled over so those passengers will be
able quarantine without issue.

What Australians
expect as we navigate our nation’s response to this global pandemic is
constructive engagement by all politicians – not opportunistic political
point-scoring.

Australians will
rightfully be disappointed by the Labor Party’s willingness to exploit
difficult circumstances being faced by Australians overseas – circumstances the
Government has been working to assist with since the start of the pandemic
earlier this year.

At the request of
State and Territory Governments, to help shore up the integrity of
hotel-quarantine systems in those jurisdictions, the National Cabinet
implemented flight caps earlier this year. That measure has been necessary and
has played a substantial role in Australia’s successful response to the
COVID-19 pandemic.

At many meetings of
the National Cabinet, the Australian Government has sought to safely increase
those cap numbers to help get more Australians home and we continue to partner
with all States and Territories to that end. Following Jane Halton’s review and
recommendations on quarantine arrangements, the Commonwealth has established
the Howard Springs facility to boost quarantine spaces and is looking to double
its capacity.

We will keep working
to bring as many Australians home by Christmas as possible, building on the
successful return of more than 400,000 Australians since March.