Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack told
Today that the government is “banking on, of course, international travel being back to some sort of pre-COVID normality next year.”
“We’ll take the best advice from medical experts as we’ve done the whole way through.”
Mr McCormack said, “We want our planes bringing migrants. We want planes bringing tourists. We want planes bringing people who seek permanent residency to fill those 43,000 jobs that are going in regional Australia right now.”
This was the latest comment in the government’s inconsistent messaging regarding the opening of Australia’s borders. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said borders would be open only when it “is safe to do so” despite the media likening the country to “fortress Australia”.