Australia Extends Outbound Travel Ban Until Mid-December

The Australian government has extended its overseas travel ban until december, a report said.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said in a statement on Thursday the human biosecurity emergency period will be extended until December 17. It was activated on March 18.

“The extension of the emergency period was informed by specialist medical and epidemiological advice provided by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC),” Mr Hunt said.

“AHPPC has advised that the international and domestic COVID-19 situation continues to pose an unacceptable public health risk.

“The extension of the emergency period is an appropriate response to that risk.”

Under the law, which is part of the Biosecurity Act 2015, the government can restrict the arrival of cruise ships and prevent overseas travel.

Push to ‘make Australia whole again’ by Christmas
Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Question Time on Thursday, “Australia was not meant to be closed”.

“We need to come together and ensure that we are clear with Australians that we will seek to make Australia whole again by Christmas this year,” he said.

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Australian Federation of Travel Agents chief executive Darren Rudd told Yahoo News Australia last month he believes people would be able to travel overseas as early as 2021.

Mr Rudd said Australia could realistically open its borders to a travel bubble in the next few months, but to what countries would depend on those that had similar epidemiological patterns to Australia.

He also said if countries in that travel bubble wanted to close off the border to each other due to the rise in coronavirus, there would need to be a pre-agreed checklist for countries so borders could not be impulsively opened and closed, reports the Yahoo News.

Earlier, Indian officials had informed that Australia has been excluded from travel bubble agreement because of its low intake of residents and citizens stranded across the world. “Australia is taking 5000-odd people from the world over. How can there be an air bubble with Australia?” an official asked, according to reports.

Even Qatar Airways’ CEO Mr Akbar Al Baker while speaking at yesterday’s CAPA Asia Pacific Aviation Summit talked about the inconsistency regarding border restrictions and also referred Australia’s border restrictions when discussing the difficulties of maintaining services there.