New push for cabins to house travellers

PM faces demands to build accommodation facilities to ­repatriate Australians stranded in India.

Scott Morrison is under mounting pressure to take action to repatriate Australians in India and build dedicated quarantine facilities. Picture: Sean Davey

Scott Morrison is facing demands from doctors and crossbench MPs to urgently build accommodation facilities to ­repatriate Australians stranded in India, as he pledges to “seriously consider” a cabin-style quarantine proposal from Victoria.

There are also calls for the government to revoke emergency powers that could see Australians who have been in India in the previous fortnight jailed or fined if they return home. It comes as Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner confirmed the latest medical advice was that the Howard Springs quarantine facility on the outskirts of Darwin was unable to accommodate any more passengers from Indian repatriation flights.

While the number of active coronavirus cases at the centre dropped from 41 last Monday to 35 on Tuesday, Mr Gunner said the pause on Indian flights ­remained necessary. Howard Springs can hold about 850 people but will be expanded to 2000 by the end of the month.

Mr Gunner is working with federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly on what the number of active cases will need to be before flights resume.

Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said the Indian flights ban was warranted to manage the risk of large numbers of infectious people entering the “fragile” hotel quarantine system, but people stuck there required a government response.

“The Australian government should take all necessary steps to get the most vulnerable home, ­including chartering commercial aircraft or using defence force capability as needed, and commercial flights should resume at the end of the current pause to allow others safe passage home,” Dr Khorshid wrote in a letter to Mr Morrison. “The order to fine or jail Australians travelling to their home country is unprecedented and should be revoked.

“Planning for alternatives to hotel quarantine also must be commenced now, so that Australia is not continuing to rely on ­imperfect hotel quarantine.”

Crossbenchers Adam Bandt, Helen Haines, Rebekha Sharkie, Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie, Bob Katter and their upper house colleagues Rex Patrick and Stirling Griff agreed powers invoked by Mr Hunt to stop all travel from India should be withdrawn. They also want the government to ­establish a “dedicated surge ­capacity quarantine facility” and repatriate Australians in India.

Mr Morrison was forced to ­defend himself against accusations he has “blood on his hands” and said the chances of Australians being jailed for up to five years or fined $66,600 for flouting the emergency powers was “pretty much zero”. “By the 15th of May, I’m confident we’ll be in a position to start resuming those repatriation flights,” he said.

He welcomed Victoria’s “very detailed” plan for a $200m, 500-bed quarantine ­facility or $700m, 3000-bed facility, but questions remained as to how much the commonwealth would invest. “A lot of effort has gone into it and we will look at it seriously. Any of the fiscal issues I am sure we would raise and discuss those first with the state government. But … nothing should be read into that,” he said.