The number of Australians permitted to return from overseas will be slashed as of Monday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says, as the nation seeks to ease the strain on the coronavirus hotel quarantine system.
Speaking in Canberra this afternoon, Morrison said the number of incoming flights will be halved, reducing the number of returning Australians by 4,000 each week.
“You have to make judgements in the national interest,” Morrison said.
While he didn’t elaborate on how returning Australians would be chosen, Morrison added “there will be capacity for people to return to Australia, as there has been for many months.
“There will be continuing access to Australia, but the number of available positions on flights will be less, and I don’t think that is surprising or unreasonable in the circumstances that we find ourselves in.”
Returning travellers will also be required to pay for their mandatory 14 days of hotel quarantine.
The decision comes after a suspected breach in Melbourne’s hotel quarantine system was linked to the city’s ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
Morrison said a national review of the hotel quarantine system is also on the way.
