Last week, Victoria ceased accepting international arrivals at Melbourne International Airport, owing to the explosion of COVID-19 cases arising from failed hotel quarantine.
This ban meant that 65 international commercial passenger flights due to arrive at Melbourne Airport between 1 July and 14 July would need to land elsewhere.
However, the NSW Government over the weekend also limited arrivals at Sydney Airport to just 450 per day – 1% of pre-pandemic levels – as Sydney struggles to cope with an influx in its hotel quarantine system.
In doing so, the NSW Government has called upon the federal government to more evenly spread the load of international arrivals and quarantine around Australia:
“New South Wales has borne the overwhelming burden of returning Aussies on behalf of the nation … I only think it’s fair, given those diversions, that other states take on those flights from Melbourne,” [Premier Gladys Berejiklian said]…
This is fair enough. The primary reason why New South Wales and Victoria have incurred the lion’s share of COVID-19 infections is because they have taken the overwhelming majority of international arrivals into quarantine:
The other jurisdictions lobby incessantly for more immigration, which has flowed overwhelmingly into Sydney and Melbourne.
They should put their money where their mouth is and accept a fair share of international arrivals into quarantine.
