Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I speak to the issue of Australians stranded overseas. The health and safety of our Australians, both at home and abroad, is the government's No. 1 priority in these unprecedented times. Global travel and border restrictions that were introduced to curb COVID-19 resulted in a consular emergency unparalleled in its scale and in its complexity. Without these measures, the pandemic would have hit our nation much harder. We recognise that the caps, agreed by national cabinet, are making it harder for people to return. We're keenly aware that many Australians face hardship overseas because of global travel restrictions.

Many Australians, though, have been able to return—more than 432,000 since the government advised Australians to reconsider their travel needs. DFAT has helped over 31,000 Australians to return on over 370 flights, including almost 11,000 people on government-facilitated flights. Ten commercial flights have been facilitated by government since 23 October, returning 1,583 Australians to our shores, including a Qantas flight from London that landed in Darwin today with 165 passengers onboard and a Qantas flight from Delhi that landed in Darwin on Saturday with 148 passengers. Since national cabinet met on 18 September, over 39,600 Australians have returned home. Melbourne airport, our second largest, has not been taking international arrivals since July. We're pleased, though, that the Victorian government is now working towards having 1,120 passengers per week arrive on commercial flights from 7 December, with further flights to follow.

The outrage that's being feigned by the opposition is rather juvenile in this crisis, particularly since the mismanagement of the crisis has resulted in states remaining closed to travellers. Labor would have you believe that Australians have been abandoned by the federal government, when we all know that it's the Labor premiers running their own dictatorships that have hampered our nation's recovery. We saw what happened when Victoria's Dan Andrews tried to process returned and international travellers and the debacle that followed.

Processing quarantined Australians is an important role for responsible leaders. In Queensland, Princess Palaszczuk's desire to close the borders to ensure her own re-election saw Queenslanders and other Australians locked out of their home, and not just the international travellers who wanted to return home. We witnessed families with small children torn apart, the dying denied the right to be with their loved ones in their final moments and the carnage that the closure of Queensland's borders caused among tourism businesses, which has yet to be fully realised. What chance did Queenslanders stranded in foreign countries have? The answer is 'none'. The biggest overreaction has been in WA, where Premier Mark McGowan has traded the needs of travellers, with a personal popularity contest proving more enticing than responsible leadership. It's interesting that now it's Labor demanding a solution to a problem that is truly of its own making. New South Wales has been doing an exceptionally strong job processing international travellers—in fact, it has been holding up the absolute weight of this task for the nation. Its excellent record in managing the health crisis, superior contact tracing and a measured approach to closures means that New South Wales has been carrying the quarantine burden for these failed, Labor-led states.

The global pandemic is far from over and we cannot guarantee when international travel will return to a level of normalcy. However, Infrastructure, the ADF and DFAT will continue to work on relocation and will use any spare capacity to get vulnerable clients on board as a priority. We're helping vulnerable Australians overseas by facilitating access to flights to Australia and providing financial assistance, where required, through the hardship program. Our consular staff are to be commended for their efforts during this time. The Morrison government is committed to helping Australians come home as quickly and safely as possible, even in the absence of sensible state Labor governance, and we will continue to do that until all Australians are home.

Question agreed to.