| The Prime Minister, state health authorities and medical experts can’t seem to agree on how the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine should be used in Australia. How are other countries using it? |
| The Labor states want international arrivals slowed to a trickle to reduce the risk of bringing in the Delta variant of COVID-19. There are about 34,000 Australians still trying to get home from overseas. Queensland, Victoria and WA want the 6000 people allowed into the nation each week to be cut. "My view is it's better to lock some people out than lock everyone down," Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said, arguing hotel quarantine can't cope with the more infectious variant of COVID-19. READ MORE: Melbourne family reunited with stranded son, thanks to a stranger "We have it within our power to dramatically reduce the number of people coming back, just for the next three to four months until we get a critical mass of people a jab," he said. Excluding New Zealand flights, which are separate as part of the travel bubble, weekly international arrivals are capped at just over 6000. Sydney takes about half with 3010 passengers, Brisbane and Melbourne taking 1000 each and just over another 1000 is split between Adelaide and Perth, which take 530 each. Some special repatriation flights go to Howard Springs at Darwin but are not subject to the flight caps. Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, wants her numbers cut to half. "Our hotels are not built to contain it and obviously our hospitals are not built to contain it either," she said, Western Australia also wants numbers slashed, with Premier Mark McGowan saying "it's the biggest threat to Australia and it needs to be cracked down on now." READ MORE: Tens of thousands of Aussies still stranded overseas Victoria says the cap on arrivals should be cut by as much as 80 per cent. The borders are closed amid some of the tightest rules in the world, with only Aussies, Permanent Residents and their spouses and children allowed to come in and nobody allowed to leave without permission. But there are exemptions being given. Everybody has to pay $3000 for 14-days of quarantine during which they are tested multiple times, plus people must test negative to coronavirus before they get on a flight to Australia. Many of the stranded Australians say flights have never resumed in places where they are stuck, others have been unable to get a flight yet due to the tight numbers and expense, while some expats didn't want to return home before, but now need to come back. National Cabinet will meet tomorrow where the issue will be a hot topic among the nation's leaders. "The Morrison Government wants credit for its border lockdowns," says Simon Birmingham, Finance Minister. "We have also shown a willingness to tighten it even further, such as during the India outbreak." Federal Labor argues the Prime Minister has failed by not having purpose-built quarantine stations. "If he'd done his job on quarantine we wouldn't now be having a difficult conversation about stranded Australians," MP Tony Bourke, said. Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull has joined the conga line of Government critics over the hapless vaccine rollout. |
![MuZammiL Dr. s[1]n](/data/avatars/s/32/32258.jpg?1370382459){kind=avatar}
