Coronavirus: PM to convene national security committee, review Australia’s response

Canberra is still waiting for China to approve the evacuation of Aussies in Wuhan as experts meets to review Australia’s response.

A Chinese girl wears a plastic bottle as makeshift homemade protection and a protective mask while waiting to check in to a flight at Beijing Airport.

The Morrison government is still waiting for the green light from China to evacuate hundreds of Australians stranded in the coronavirus-epicentre of Wuhan.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has confirmed Canberra is still in talks with Beijing regarding the extraction of Australian citizens, but expects permission to be granted soon.

It comes as the World Health Organisation declared the epidemic a public health emergency of international concern as the death toll rose to 170 people in China.

The declaration means there will be a greater focus on a global response, with the WHO fearful of what will happen if coronavirus reaches countries ill-prepared to stop the virus causing mass infections.

Scott Morrison will convene a national security committee meeting in Canberra on Friday to review Australia’s response to the deadly outbreak.

“The National Security Committee will meet today again to go over all of our arrangements, preparations, the co-operation, the pre-planning and the precautions we are putting in place and in particular, working with our State Government partners who are doing an amazing job on the ground with their tremendous facilities,” the Prime Minister said on Friday.

“Australia has been acting in advance of this decision,” Mr Morrison said. “All of the issues - isolation, case management, contract tracing, prevention of onward spread, active surveillance, early detection - Australia has been doing.’

Appearing on the Nine Network’s Today show on Friday, Mr Dutton defended the government’s plans to charge up to 600 Australians for their own extractions and the decision to force them into quarantine on Christmas Island once they’re back home.

Mr Dutton said charges had been applied to evacuees in the past and said not all of the Australians who had registered with the government would choose to be evacuated and quarantined on the island.

“Some of them will want to come. Some will decide to stay with family. Some will decide because they have business interests there, that they will stay and ride it out,” Mr Dutton said.

He likened the Christmas Island quarantine decision to the US government’s plan to monitor the health of their evacuated consular staff in Anchorage, Alaska. 

“We don’t have a hospital that we can find 600 beds in. We’re not emptying one of our hospitals. We want to provide isolation and there is a lot of politicking going on with the Mayor of Christmas Island,” he said.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne told Alan Jones on 2GB that Australia is considering public health first and economic effects second amid criticisms about the way the government is managing the crisis.

A woman wears a protective mask and ski goggles as she lines up to check in to a flight at Beijing Airport.

“We are placing our priority on public health in Australia and that’s why we took the steps that we took long ahead of the World Health Organisation,”

“We have additional biosecurity at all of our airports speaking individually to passengers as they are arriving from a range of ports around the world,” Ms Payne.

Passengers from China will continue to arrive in Australia except from Wuhan, despite British Airways suspending flights to China and American Airways suspending Los Angeles flights to and from Shanghai and Beijing.

Ms Payne said she will continue to seek advice from health professionals today but that she did not think it was possible to contain every single transmission of the virus, even if Australia were to prevent flights arriving from China.

“We do take the advice of senior health authorities in Australia. The chief medical officers of the states and territories and the chief medical officer of the commonwealth.”

Mr Dutton said the government had not yet considered providing financial assistance to businesses who might be affected by the outbreak. 

“We are particularly concerned about the tourism industry off the back of the bushfires but what compounding impact this might have as well.” 

Chinese children wear plastic bottles as makeshift homemade protection and protective masks at Beijing Airport.