With Australia halving the caps on international flights, some planes will be carrying as few as five passengers, with some being completely empty. The new rules around arrival caps are so all over the place and limiting that even the Australian Human Rights Commission has had to step in and say something. Love this!
The Board of Airline Representatives of Australia has told The Guardian that due to arrival caps being halved, some international airlines have been given a zero passenger allowance, as the Government scrambles to make flights financially efficient with reallocations.
The new weekly flight cap for Sydney will reportedly be 1505 passengers, which is half of what it was before.
This means that empty planes with nothing but cargo will be coming into Australia, while others will be carrying around 25-26 passengers.
These new international passenger limits will be coming into effect on July 14.
The Guardian also reports that the amount of travel exemptions granted for Aussies stuck overseas has risen, which means that these brand new travel caps will leave a lot of folks deserted. Good job Australia!
These limitations caused quite a bit of concern for the Australian Human Rights Commission, who released a media statement about how these brand new travel restrictions could very easily limit the human rights of Aussies.
“Under international human rights law, travel restrictions and quarantine can be a legitimate response to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Human Rights Commissioner Edward Santow wrote in the statement.
“However, such measures can limit the human rights of Australians, and any limitation must be no more that is reasonable, necessary and proportionate to protect public health.
“Any Australian who has been prevented from coming home by border restrictions can face enormous hardship, including as a result of prolonged separation from loved ones.
“Australia’s federal, state and territory governments must take urgent steps to increase the number of people who can be safely quarantined, allowing more Australians to return home.”
You can have a read of the full statement below.
A statement on Australia’s international arrival caps from Human Rights Commissioner @esantow: pic.twitter.com/YhApztVXOb
— Australian Human Rights Commission (@AusHumanRights) July 6, 2021
If you’re still confused as to what the hell is going on, don’t worry, you’re justified in your confusion — let’s face it, even Scott Morrison doesn’t seem to know what his next move is, based off his rather topline four-phase COVID exit plan.
It’s all been a bit of a mess as things start to shift and change suddenly, but hopefully these brand new travel limitations won’t be long-term. Get your shit together, Government
