Airports demand lifting of ‘outdated’ mask mandate

Major Australian airports have lost patience with the mask mandate, saying the rule is hampering staff recruitment and tying up valuable police resources.

Airports are calling time on the face mask mandate saying it no longer serves a useful purpose. Picture: Julian Andrews

Airports have lost patience with the face mask mandate saying the outdated rule is confusing passengers, affecting staff recruitment and tying up valuable police resources.

Since January 2021, workers and people passing through airport terminals have been required to wear a face mask to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Now chief health officers are believed to have decided the mask mandate should remain in place at airports until there can be agreement across all states and territories to relax the rule at the same time.

The requirement for a uniform response has exasperated airport operators, who say the rule is well past its use-by date and affecting staff recruitment.

Canberra Airport CEO Stephen Byron said it appeared airports were caught in a “classic commonwealth-state stuff up” almost 18-months after national cabinet introduced the mandate.

“National cabinet seems to have gone on holidays and no-one can work out how to get rid of (the mask mandate),” said Mr Byron.

“It’s been left for the chief health officers to decide and the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) has adopted an absolutely startling position that they will only relax the mask mandate at airports in a uniform way, which is the first time in two years we’ve had any uniformity among the states.”

He said airports were no riskier than supermarkets, cinemas or sports stadium where mask-wearing was no longer required.

To make matters worse, the rule was now affecting staff recruitment at airports and tying up police resources.

“Australian Federal Police officers are the dedicated counter-terrorism first response force and they’re walking around making sure people are wearing masks in cafes and bars,” Mr Byron said.

“That’s a woeful diversion of resources to be policing something that shouldn’t even be in existence.”

Australian Airports Association chief executive James Goodwin said it was becoming more difficult to enforce the wearing of masks at airports as restrictions in virtually all other public places eased.

He said people were getting used to not wearing masks and did not understand why it was necessary at airports.

“We’re calling for a relaxation of the requirement to wear a mask in an airport — it should be a choice,” said Mr Goodwin.

“As aviation is building back up and more people are travelling we want the full experience to be back online, and retailers and restaurants are struggling to attract workers when they have to wear a mask all day.”

He remained hopeful at least one state would take the lead and ditch the masks, clearing the way for others to follow suit.

With the federal government currently in “caretaker mode” due to the impending election, no changes to the Biosecurity Act governing the mask mandate at international airports would be made until after May 21.

A federal health spokeswoman said masks at domestic airports were a state responsibility.

A Queensland Health spokesman said they continued to comply with the national mandate introduced in January 2021.

“Any changes to our existing health directions will be communicated with the public,” he said.

Other state health departments did not respond.

Mr Goodwin said mask wearing on aircraft was a different matter, because of the confined space involved.

Airlines remain supportive of the on-board mask requirement despite being scrapped in a number of other countries including the UK and the US.

Originally published as Airports demand lifting of ‘outdated’ mask mandate