Federal government says international travel on hold
The success of COVID-19 vaccines will be crucial to allowing Australians to fly overseas but the federal government has flagged international travel won’t return for some time.
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Aussies may not be able to travel overseas for a year.
The global rollout of a coronavirus vaccine will be crucial in determining when travellers again venture abroad.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday spoke with international counterparts to thrash out the issue as part of the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said he was “hopeful” international movement would resume in 2021 but warned it was unlikely to happen at the start of the year.
Further information about the success of the vaccines was crucial to the timeline.
“Then of course the manufacturing rollout, distribution, uptake, all the other factors that come into how it is that a vaccine could change the way we look at things around this pandemic,” Senator Birmingham said.
He said another key factor would be confidence for the public that the vaccine was safe.
Senator Birmingham dismissed a suggestion from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian that her state be allowed to use up to a third of its hotel quarantine slots for international students to return.
“I can certainly understand,” he said.
“However, the priority has to remain on returning Australians.
“This is exactly what we’ve been talking about through this interview that getting those Australians, particularly those who might be in challenging or distressed circumstances home is a genuine priority.”
Senator Birmingham said if the government could get through the backlog of Australian citizens seeking to return home, he would like “nothing more” than to have international students return.
There are still thousands of Australians trapped overseas, unable to secure places on flights or spots in Australian quarantine hotels.
Further pressure was put on the system when South Australia stopped accepting international flights following their outbreak.
Victoria last week announced it would will start receiving international flights again from December 7, but just 160 incoming passengers will be allowed in each day.
Mr Morrison used the first day of the virtual G20 meeting to advocate for more co-ordinated international action to respond to the health and economic crisis.
The leaders agreed any COVID-19 vaccine had to be safe, affordable and available to all, especially those in developing nations.
G20 leaders also discussed developed nations contributing even more to the joint COVAX facility, which was created to ensure equal access to doses for all nations.
The need for all nations to be better prepared for the next pandemic and for an early warning system to be developed was also discussed.
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