National cabinet’s decision to halve the number of international arrivals to Australia is yet another blow to the 34,000 Australians overseas trying to return home.
But it is also far more than that. As international law scholars, our view is this latest move 18 months into the pandemic contravenes Australians’ right to enter their country.
Back in the 1950s, Australia was keenly involved in the drafting of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights one of two core human rights treaties. The treaty was signed by the Whitlam Labor government and then ratified by the Fraser Liberal government in 1980. This voluntary act committed Australia to abide by its provisions as a matter of international law.
The federal government’s suspension of flights from India leaves some 9,000 Australian citizens stranded, 650 of whom are registered as financially or medically vulnerable. They are trapped in a country where hospitals are running out of oxygen, and where the number of new infections is more than 300,000 per day.
Along with the unfolding humanitarian disaster, the suspension of flights is yet another example of the ongoing dysfunction of Australia’s repatriation system.
As I have explained in my recent research, the pandemic has created a temporary, but desperate minority in Australia. These are the roughly 34,000 citizens abroad who are currently registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs as wanting help to get home, though the true number is likely far higher.