Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will not be supporting this motion by Senator Patrick. Labor shares Senator Patrick's concern for the stranded Australians in India, and we oppose the Morrison government's attempt to jail Australian citizens for coming home. But this motion would see the introduction of a bill for debate that would see the Senate override the advice of medical experts, and that is not the Senate's role. The only way we can bring home the 40,000 stranded Australians, including from India, is for Scott Morrison to finally roll out the vaccine here in Australia and accept his responsibility to safely expand Australia's quarantine capacity so that all Australians can again call Australia home.