Australian senator says 'criminalising' citizens returning from India is 'a step too far'

Australian Liberal Senator James Paterson has said that the move of "criminalising" Australian citizens returning to their own country "is a step too far". While speaking to Sky News host Sharri Markson on May 9, Paterson said that he is worried about the precedent that the move would set and what it says about the value of Australian citizenship and Australian passports. Paterson also warned that the Australian government has crossed an "enormous threshold" by the decision to penalise its own citizens. 

The Australian government had announced on April 27 that it was suspending all travel from India until May 15  in the wake of a spike in infection rate in Australia's hotel quarantine system due to the escalating COVID-19 crisis in India. In a press release, Australian health minister Greg Hunt informed that the ban was enforceable with fines of up to $66,600 and five years in jail — penalties legislated in 2015 when the Biosecurity Act passed parliament. Chief medical officer Paul Kelly also supported the travel ban. 

Australians stranded in India

India is in the grip of a devastating second wave of COVID-19 that has hospitals struggling to secure oxygen supplies and other medical facilities. India witnessed a single-day rise of 3,66,161 COVID-19 cases on May 10, which pushed its tally to 2,26,62,575, according to the health ministry. The death toll due to the viral disease climbed to 2,46,116 with 3,754 more people succumbing to deadly virus. As per a report by The Guardian, there are 9,500 Australians stranded in India due to the ban. The report also added that the number of vulnerable Australians has risen to 950. Since the ban was enacted, at least one man has died. 

After the ban, some critics have accused the Australian government was of racism because such drastic travel restrictions were not introduced when infection rates were rapidly increasing in the United States and Europe. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was not concerned that the travel disruption might damage relations with India, which he described as "a great friend of Australia". Critics of the travel ban include former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson as well as several Australian lawmakers and Indian community leaders.

"This pause is enabling us to get on the right footing to be able to restore those repatriation flights and we’re making good progress to do that," Morrison said. "Had we not done the pause, we would have been eroding our capability to do that over the medium-to-longer term," he added.

Court challenge over travel ban

Recently, the Australian government faced a court challenge by a 73-year-old citizen stranded in the city of Bengaluru over the Indian travel ban. Lawyers for Gary Newman, one of the Australians prevented from returning home, made an urgent application to the Federal Court in Sydney for a judge to review the travel ban imposed under the Biosecurity Act by Health Minister Greg Hunt. Lawyer Christopher Ward told the court one of the grounds was related to questions of proportionality and reasonableness. 

IMAGE: AP/@SenPaterson/Twitter