NSW Premier says Australia can’t live in ‘bubble’ forever as state loses $1.5b a month without international travel

Australians can’t live in a “bubble” forever, the NSW Premier has warned, revealing the staggering cost of being a hermit country.

Australians can’t live in a “bubble” forever and will likely need to accept some level of risk once the rest of the world opens up.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian noted the state was losing $1.5 billion every month because of a lack of international travel.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Ms Berejiklian emphasised the importance of vaccination, particularly for opening up to the rest of the world more quickly.

“I know that there is a degree of comfort in the bubble that we have and I understand that,” she said.

“But we can’t live in the bubble forever.”

It comes as the Morrison Government faced criticism over an India travel ban that some have called unethical and racist.

The Morrison Government has said that its decision to ban travellers from India was based on a 2 per cent infection rate cap, but Ms Berejiklian has noted that this did not dictate NSW’s quarantine capacity.

“The capacity constraint we have is how many people can be in our quarantine system safely at any one time,” she said.

“The advice from police is between 5000, and at a stretch 5500 and when you go over 5500 it means you’re putting extra pressure on health, on the hotels and on the police force.”

Deakin University epidemiologist Professor Catherine Bennett said she thought the Morrison Government’s decision to stop flights from India, with penalties of up to five years in jail and a fine of up to $66,000, also acted as a warning to travellers.

“I think this will change everybody’s thinking about the uncertainty and whether it’s safe to travel,” she said.

“We haven’t seen this before from the Australian Government and we also don’t know what might happen next.

“Now we see they will go to more extreme measures to stop arrivals who may be infectious.

“That’s on the table and will apply to other countries, even though they don’t look particularly high risk when people (Australians) leave the country.”

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Australians may be reluctant to travel overseas after the Morrison Government banned flights from India. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Sarah Matray

Prof Bennett said the India situation was also a lesson in how quickly a wave of infections could take off.

“A month ago in India you could see the warning signs but people didn’t expect it to escalate so quickly,” she said.

Uncertainty around travel could persist, particularly if the world is slow to vaccinate, even if there is a good uptake in Australia, Prof Bennett said.

But once Australia is largely vaccinated this could cut the risk significantly and may see a shift in people’s risk appetite.

“Is it about stopping the virus completely or are do we feel safe enough to let the virus in and focus on picking up variants of concern or cases in workers in important roles such as quarantine?” Prof Bennett said.

The Morrison Government has faced criticism over its India ban with experts including University of NSW Professor Mary-Louise McLaws, a World Health Organisation adviser, saying the policy was not ethical.

Sky News host Andrew Bolt has said the India ban “stinks of racism” and Australian Medical Association WA President, Dr Andrew Miller, said it was “absolutely unacceptable and outrageous”.

On Monday, Nationals MP Matt Canavan became the first government MP to slam the ban.

“We should be helping Aussies in India return not jailing them. Let’s fix our quarantine system rather than leave our fellow Australians stranded,” he tweeted.

About 9000 Australians are registered as being in India at the moment with 650 registered as vulnerable.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended the India ban and said the decision was made based on advice from chief medical officer Paul Kelly.

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