Coronavirus: Push to bring stranded Australians home

Thousands of Australians stranded overseas could be brought home via a dedicated quarantine facility outside Darwin under a plan being pushed by the NT government.

National cabinet will review the states’ weekly caps on international arrivals on Friday.

Thousands of Australians stranded overseas could be brought home via a dedicated quarantine facility outside Darwin under a plan being pushed by the Northern Territory government, amid a national cabinet impasse over hotel quarantine capacity.

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan also urged the Morrison government to use defence bases and detention centres for international arrivals, while Anthony Albanese said the RAAF’s VIP fleet should be brought in to help nearly 20,000 Australians who want to come home.

That suggestion was slammed by the Coalition as a “Labor stunt” that “wouldn’t even address the real problem”.

“There are plenty of empty seats on planes landing in Australia,” Trade and Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said.

“The major constraint on arrivals are state caps on quarantine rooms … How does Labor propose increasing properly supervised quarantine capacity instead?”

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner has approached national cabinet about using the 3500-bed Howard Springs facility — presently reserved for domestic travellers — for international arrivals.

Territory sources said the Morrison government would likely need to direct airlines to fly to Darwin and help with staff and funding to make the scheme work.

The facility, a legacy of the ­construction phase of the multibillion-dollar Ichthys LNG project, was used in the early stages of the pandemic to repatriate Australian evacuees from the Chinese city of Wuhan and the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

“I am talking with the Prime Minister and my national cabinet colleagues about how we can get more Aussies home while still keeping the Territory the safest place in Australia,” Mr Gunner told The Australian.

The Morrison government is demanding states boost their hotel quarantine capacity in order to repatriate more Australians from overseas, declaring airlines can put on more planes if more rooms are made available.

According to Morrison government sources, Perth has 15,048 hotel beds available but a cap of 525 international arrivals per week going into quarantine.

Sydney has 43,102 hotel beds and a cap of 2450 weekly international arrivals.

“The caps were put in place to ensure the integrity of Australia’s quarantine system and the safety of the community,” a federal government spokeswoman said.

“Commercial airlines continue to play a vital role in bringing Australians home and have capacity to repatriate more Australians should the caps be increased.”

Australian Border Force commissioner Michael Outram, who is responsible for approving exemptions for Australians wanting to travel overseas, said doctors and nurses overseeing hotel quarantine were “pretty stretched”. He indicated extra workers would be required if more quarantine beds became available.

Mr McGowan said the steady stream of Australians coming home, as well as an influx of fly-in fly-out mine workers who have decided to move permanently to WA, meant the state’s quarantine system was close to its limit.

He said the assistance of the commonwealth would help WA increase the numbers of people entering the state, flagging that immigration detention centres at Christmas Island and Yongah Hill, near the regional WA town of Northam, could both be suitable.

The Perth-based Indonesia Institute estimates there are around 3000 Australians still in Bali, of which one third would like to come home but can’t because of flight limitations and the cost of quarantine on arrival.

Additional reporting: Paul Garvey, Amanda Hodge