Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senator Faruqi, move:

That the Senate—

(a) condemns the Federal Government's travel ban on citizens and visa holders returning home from India as racist and punitive;

(b) recognises that people who call Australia home in India and the Indian community in Australia felt abandoned by their Government when it criminalised their return home from COVID-ravaged India;

(c) acknowledges that there are 9,500 citizens and permanent visa holders in India who would like to return home to Australia, including 950 vulnerable people and 173 unaccompanied minors;

(d) notes that the Government is not bringing people home fast enough, as planned repatriation flights are estimated to bring 1,000 people home, at most, by the end of June; and

(e) calls on the Federal Government to immediately revoke this racist travel ban, invest in additional quarantine facilities, and announce its plans to bring the 9,500 Australians home from India quickly and safely.