Coronavirus: 16,000 fly out after PM’s call to stay

There are calls for holiday-makers who ignored travel warnings to foot the bill for their forced quarantine when they return home.

Travellers arrive to check in to one of only a handful of departing flights at the Brisbane international airport on Monday. Pictures: AAP

About 16,000 Australians flew out of the country in the fortnight after Scott Morrison told everyone not to go overseas, triggering calls for defiant international travellers to foot the bill for their forced quarantine when they return home.

The Australian can reveal the 16,000 citizens went overseas by plane between March 19 and 30 even though the Prime Minister gave a very clear instruction to “not travel abroad” on March 18.

In addition, 3800 Australians flew out from March 25-30 after an official ban on all overseas travel came into force on March 24.

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The significant outbound travel numbers, confirmed by the Department of Home Affairs, emerged as West Australian Premier Mark McGowan considered making passengers who ignored travel advice and went on holiday pay for the hotel accommodation they must quarantine in for two weeks on their return.

He hit out at “irresponsible” West Australians who raced off to Bali, Thailand and the UK in the past fortnight.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne appealed to Australians to “listen carefully” to government advice without adding to the coronavirus crisis.

She said people should remember there were many Australians at home and abroad who needed help and the government was making difficult decisions on how to prioritise national resources.

“These numbers underline the need for Australians to listen carefully to the advice their government is giving them. The challenge is great enough, without adding to it,” Senator Payne told The Australian.
“We’ve said repeatedly that the government will not be able to help every Australian travelling overseas to get home. Many countries are changing their border restrictions, sometimes with little notice. Commercial airline services are reducing fast.
“If you are travelling overseas and you see a commercial option to get home, do not hesitate, take it. There is no certainty that alternatives will be there in the future.”

State treasurers agreed on Wednesday to split the substantial costs of the quarantine accommodation, with many passengers being put up in empty five-star ­hotels in Australia's capital cities.

Each state will pay for their own residents’ quarantine, easing pressure on NSW which is housing most of the international arrivals in Sydney.

Travellers must go into quarantine in the state in which they land for two weeks before returning home.

Former immigration minister Amanda Vanstone said it would be reasonable for the government to charge a levy for returned holiday-makers’ quarantine.

“I am amazed that people with the knowledge in hand with what was happening in China and Italy would nonetheless choose to ignore advice and travel,” Ms Vanstone said.

“The government is trying to help you by saying ‘watch out’. For people who are travelling for work or sensible compassionate reasons, that’s another matter.”

The 3800 Australian citizens who left the country during the travel ban required a government exemption, which can be granted if they ordinarily live overseas, have essential work abroad or there are compassionate grounds.

That means 12,200 Australians flew overseas in a six-day period without needing an exemption and while knowing Mr Morrison had urged against overseas travel.

In the weeks before they suspended international flights altogether, Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia were operating about 50 services a day out of the country to the US, New Zealand, Indonesia and Pacific Islands such as Fiji.

Qantas also maintained a reduced schedule of flights to Tokyo and Hong Kong and continued to fly to London — one of the few routes where demand was reported to be strong.

A host of foreign carriers have continued to operate in and out of Australia, including China Southern, China Eastern, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qatar and Malaysia Airlines.

Between March 19 and 31, Singapore Airlines and partner Silk Air operated 77 flights out of Australia after slashing capacity by more than half. In the past week, Emirates, Etihad and Singapore Airlines have suspended all flights Down Under, along with Fiji Airways, Korean Air, Hawaiian Airlines and Air India.

Although evaporating demand was hurting most airlines, Virgin Australia, which stopped international flights on Monday, revealed a handful of routes were still attracting passengers, including Brisbane and Sydney to Los Angeles, Brisbane and Sydney to Bali and Brisbane to Nadi, Fiji.

Along with London, Qantas continued to see steady interest in its US flights although a spokesman said it was unaware if the passengers were Americans returning home or Australians.

Qantas stopped flying internationally on Sunday and Jetstar’s last flight out of the country was a return Melbourne-Bali service on March 26.

While 40,000 people were arriving daily in Australia’s airports a few weeks ago, by March 24 that number had plummeted to 13,665.

On Monday there were 1929 international arrivals compared with 58,943 the same day last year.