Covid: Small number of foreign arrivals here to help, heal or grieve

More than 16 per cent of the hotel quarantine caseload are foreigners who have been granted entry on compassionate grounds, receive ­urgent medical treatment or fill critical skills shortages.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews. Picture: Gary Ramage

More than 16 per cent of the hotel quarantine caseload are foreigners who have been granted entry on compassionate grounds to see dying family members, receive ­urgent medical treatment or fill critical skills shortages.

As Labor premiers called on Scott Morrison to slash the number of international arrivals, Home Affairs Minister Karen ­Andrews told The Australian the nation could not close itself off and that a significant number of foreign arrivals were supporting the pandemic response.

Of the travellers quarantining over the past month, 83.9 per cent were Australian residents or immediate family members.

Foreign nationals made up 16.1 per cent of quarantine travellers (about 775 people), of whom about half were on critical skill visas. Of these, the majority were medical professionals brought in to assist with the Covid-19 response.

At least 8 per cent of quarantined persons were foreign nationals seeking medical treatment or dealing with family tragedies.

Ms Andrews on Thursday said the border closures must not prevent vaccines from entering Australia or the delivery of goods or the filling of critical skill shortages.

“Australia’s borders are closed, but our citizens and economy can’t be shut off from the world entirely,” she said. “Overwhelmingly, most international arrivals required to quarantine are Australian citizens, permanent residents or their immediate family.

“The remainder are largely critical workers … or those facing urgent medical treatment or facing family tragedy.

“We need to bring vaccines into Australia, continue our postal and cargo links, and we need the skills and labour of critical workers coming from overseas.”

The Home Affairs Minister’s comments came as Labor premiers called for cuts to foreign arrivals into the nation by as much as 80 per cent.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk wanted the biggest cut to international arrival caps. She said on Thursday she had written to the Prime Minister proposing a 50 per cent cut, saying her state did not have enough room in quarantine hotels.

“We are down to the final number of beds. We are now searching for additional hotels for our hotel quarantine,” she said.

“This virus is incredibly contagious. It is the Delta virus. Our hotels were not built to contain it and … you see our hospitals aren’t built to contain it either.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will bring a proposal to reduce international arrivals by 80 per cent to national cabinet, while West Australian Premier Mark McGowan also supports a reduction in international arrivals.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles attacked the federal government’s policy on Wednesday, claiming that, of the 20,000 people who arrived last month, half were not Australian citizens.

Mr Miles’ claims have been debunked by both the Australian Border Force and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

More than 20,000 foreign nationals who do not have to quarantine have arrived in Australia in the past month. More than 15,000 of those people were New Zealanders who can come here freely under the trans-Tasman bubble.

Department of Home Affairs data seen by The Australian shows 4400 airline crew came through the country in June.