Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews says the federal government has an obligation to support the 8000 Australians stranded in India, which is suffering a coronavirus catastrophe.
Ms Andrews, who sits on the national security committee set to meet on Tuesday to discuss the devastating outbreak, told Channel Nine the meeting will consider how to help 8000 Australians stranded in India.
“Our primary responsibility is to keep Australians safe and secure, so that is our overarching responsibility,” she said.
“We do have obligations though to make sure that we can support Australians to come back home.”
India has had more than 350,000 virus cases in the past 24 hours, bringing its total number to 17.3 million. Almost 200,000 people have so far died from COVID-19.
Australia is considering sending supplies of oxygen and ventilators, and could also impose harsher inbound travel restrictions.
Ms Andrews said any decisions on further travel restrictions would be based on medical advice.
“Clearly the situation in India is absolutely devastating. Hundreds of thousands of new cases each day, multiple deaths. It’s just an awful situation,” she said.
“I’m sure that there will be a broad range of discussions today [Tuesday] about what the future action may need to be.”
Last week, the government cut repatriation and direct flight arrivals from India by 30 per cent.
Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed stopping all flights from India could be an option if health authorities advised the move was necessary.
“If those additional measures are recommended, we will take them with the heaviest of hearts but without any hesitation,” he said.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said the situation in India was desperate.
“They are our good friends, we should be assisting in whatever way we can,” he told ABC radio.
“A breakout of this virus in one part of the world is a breakout everywhere.”
Mr Albanese said the crisis also highlighted the need to establish dedicated quarantine facilities with open air for returning travellers.
“The Commonwealth needs to get quarantine right,” he said.
“We know the issue of housing people in CBD hotels doesn’t make sense compared with making sure appropriate facilities are put in place.”
Tighter rules on agenda for return travellers from India
Meanwhile, Western Australians have emerged from a three-day snap lockdown, although some restrictions remain.
The outbreak that sparked the lockdown has been traced to a man who returned from India after travelling to get married.
The federal government insists tighter rules around who can travel to the disease-stricken country mean a similar exemption would no longer be granted.
Ms Andrews said the man’s travel was approved months ago under the old criteria, which has since been dramatically tightened.
“A wedding would be very unlikely to be approved,” she said.
Queensland’s push to ground flights
Meanwhile, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk wants the federal government to halt all flights from India.
Ms Palaszczuk said inbound flights from India must be suspended to protect Australia from the strain of the virus ravaging India.
“Other countries have done a temporary suspension. I don’t think it would be out of kilter for Queensland and Australia to also do the same,” she said on Tuesday.
“We’re due to have some direct flights coming in the next couple of weeks. Our health authorities are on high alert, we’re very worried about the number of people who could be infectious on those flights, so hopefully the Commonwealth or make some further decisions today.”
When asked if Australian cricketers in the Indian Premier League should be allowed to charter flights to return from India, Ms Palaszczuk said many Australian citizens in India legitimately needed to come home.
However, she said the Commonwealth needed to consider how to safely quarantine any arrivals and how to test them before they board any charter flights in India.
-with AAP
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