Australia closed to foreigners until 2021
 

This can't be good news...

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitic...cond-wave-live

Beijing has it under control - wink wink
 

Add to this that Beijing is cancelling flights (70% for now) because of only "137" new cases in a week ;) ....

https://globalnews.ca/news/7074929/c...hts-cancelled/

Sure, sure, travel will return to normal soon..

Sadly, the borders are not entirely closed

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...7ba9a159b0c1de

I do not understand, nor accept, that Australian citizens cannot fly in or out of our own country but our universities can fly in students from overseas?

You're Australian...surely you can figure out the answer to that ...the rest of us already have :}.

Australian citizens can fly into the country. There has NEVER been any restriction on that.
The overseas students bring in income and keep the universities working. The students will have to do 14 days quarantine.
Let go of your racism and make some room for some common sense and perhaps a few seconds of research.

nasty, mole

Australian citizens are free to enter the country whenever and as there is already in place a 14 day quarantine protocol, the students will be dealt with in the same fashion as returning Aussies.

What is more relevant is the fact that the students chosen are in their final stages of research projects which are vital to the continued acceptance of the said universities as international centres of research excellence.

and what ozbiggles said

Oh good grief ! If you can't see the intended humour in my comment then I really can't help you much. It is a good thing if you can laugh at yourself once in a while. Believe, me...as a Brit I have plenty of opportunity to do that in my own case. Chill.

Might be about $2500 AUD per person. That's going to be quite a deterrent

1. This is good news. The virus can't swim here so the fewer people arriving the better.
2. The taxpayer is still funding 14 days in quarantine. This is ridiculous. If you have a legitimate reason to enter the country you should fully fund it. There was ample time to come back prior to these restrictions being put in place.
3. Australia has largely escaped this problem because of border restrictions.

Mind expanding on how this is good news for CX and other airlines?

But why are Australians banned from leaving? So they can’t come back for more quarantine, if you willing to pay for your own quarantine why should you be prevented from leaving the place. Covidiots

ozbiggles, let me guess. You’re offended!

No Booze on flights in Australia (domestic/international), to help lessen contact with cabin crew. why would you want to fly !

The only thing that really offends me is when people have a lack of common dog.

Or to quote a hero of mine, “There are only two things that offend me, intolerance and the Dutch”.

Oh god, does this apply to passengers as well?

I don't think the 25 million or so that haven't caught the disease in Australia really care. They are happy to keep it out or at least do all that can be done to keep it out.

I will be happy if they keep the borders closed for another 2 years.. as long as it keeps it out. I have seen enough of what happens when this thing starts to spread.

If Cathay survives, I think it's time to dump all Asia and Oceania and focus on Europe, North America and start flying to Africa (everywhere) and South America.

I know it sounds stupid as CX is in the middle of Asia, but Qatar and Emirates make most of their revenue with pax transiting to and from anywhere except middle East. Asia and Oceania were hit first by the virus but will open last, how ironic.

Meanwhile, in Europe, flights restarted, borders opened, back in business. If you still think Asia is the new world's economic centre, think again and don't count on those gutless leaders to make the first move.

As for point 2, Some Australians are still stuck overseas with many countries not allowing any travel. Many people are being made redundant in the ME from the big 3.

How could they have just "dropped everything" at the start and come home?

This is **** news for us trying to stay employed.

What a Nanny State - can’t believe you need an exit permit in 2020.

If Aussies wanna travel then let them.

”but the Prime Minister said...”

Sure, some are in those sort of unfortunate situations but hundreds are/were just ignorant, either way why should the public fund this? This is typical of the world we live in now that nobody wants to be responsible for themselves, particularly if it costs them...
If you are a citizen you can get back in but you should be responsible for the cost not everybody else. Fortunately this is about to change.

Aussies pay but international students get in for free...
https://www.theguardian.com/australi...me-coronavirus

Please explain?

That's funny

Well said 150,

Mill Worker - you are a muppet and out of touch with the industry and the plight of all concerned. Lots of people are doing it hard.

You need to get out more.

Go away; I don’t think I’m the lone voice here.

Sorry A2, I think you will find just about the entire population (outside the aviation and education sectors perhaps) is very comfortable with the current international border restrictions (not so the domestic restrictions). My comments are not about the aviation industry they are about the well being of the wider community. If you would wish a UK style outbreak upon Australia well that is your opinion and you are entitled to it. I know many people from many airlines that are out of work and may never work again which is very unfortunate for them but it is preferable to the potential alternative. There are hundreds of thousands of business making sacrifices at the moment for the greater good and they don't want that work unwound.

It is better to read posts in context rather than from a rather selfish perspective.

I think you will find that the foreign student 14 day hotel quarantine is being funded jointly by the Universities and the ACT government...not the federal!

In reference to the domestic border restrictions....support for the Queensland premier’s tough stance on keeping the border closed is running close to 70% even though the media is saying to open. Australian borders closed is also supported by the vast majority of the population except if you are in the travel and tourism business...so I can’t see this changing for quite some time except for the bubble with NZ...

Just leave me the bottle.

Ditto for Western Australia. Border restrictions are regarded as WA's primary defence against COVID-19 and the WA Government has said the domestic border will not re-open until there is no community transmission in the other states (ie Victoria). There is overwhelming public support in WA for that position. The virus has effectively been eradicated in WA and, apart from the travel restrictions, life is rapidly getting back to normal.

WA will crack quickly once they start missing out on domestic tourism and international student money. The only thing holding it back now is Victoria is just creating enough bad press to give him something to hold onto his PR but the dollars will trump it soon.

I doubt that. For a start, the policy on international student arrivals is controlled by the Federal Government and seems likely to go ahead with the existing 14-day quarantine requirement. Further, WA Government data shows that interstate visitors only contribute about 16% of the total value added to the WA economy by tourism. The vast majority (over 50%) of that total value comes from within WA. Under the current restrictions, some of the value that might have been added by interstate tourism is likely to be recouped by locals spending more money in WA.

The WA Premier's approval rating is running at about 89%, the highest of any leader in the country. His handling of the epidemic has the backing of around 90-95% of the WA public. I doubt that he will cave in to pressure from the other States or the Commonwealth any time soon.

Well researched but you must have missed the part where the PM said if you can’t go from Sydney to Perth then you can’t go from Singapore to Perth. Or if your state is not open to Australia then you won’t be getting any international students. I’m not sure how many international students go to uni in WA but the answer will be some and you can bet those University’s will be in the WA premiers ear. But I agree entirely that the premiers are driven by their approval ratings, not COVID rates.

edit - I do now, 2017 figures, 50,000 international students, $1.9 billion dollars.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-...lysis/12371472

BuzzBox,

Looks like WA might open very soon

I did see that comment, but I think it's just political posturing to put pressure on the states to open their domestic borders. In terms of biosecurity, there's zero logic in the PM denying international students the right to enter Perth if he's going to allow them to enter Sydney or Canberra.

One of the best political quotes ever ‘Never stand between a premier and a bucket of money’. With the worst unemployment figures and the other states opening up to tourism and international students it won’t be long. The court case could go a number of ways too. It might have been in the closed States favour a few weeks ago but the number now opens weakens the health argument to keep WA shut but I don’t think the case will be up before the border is open. End of July I reckon all based on the politics, makes him look like he held out longer but not to long to affect the opinion poles, announced by this Sunday.
As for the international borders outside the Tasman, mid 2021 the earliest with no 14 day quarantine and that is only if some form of control is gained over COVID.

Quarantine is there to protect the Australian public, not those returning to Australia, so why should the travellers pay for your safety? Prisoners don't pay for their jail.

...and yet the State Government insisted yesterday the unemployment data won't affect its decision on when to re-open the border. See the WA Treasurer's remarks from about 2:00 in yesterday's interview:
facebook dot com/abcperth/videos/654588441793228/

The Government is certainly under pressure, but remember the unemployment data lags the current state of the employment market by about a month. For example, the May unemployment data released yesterday only reflects the market to mid-May, before the Government began easing restrictions, and was expected to be dire. The June figures, released mid-July, should show the effect of easing the restrictions. In any case, I doubt the unemployment data will sway the Government's decision making in the short term; the decision to re-open the border (or not) will be based on the health outcomes in the other states over the next few weeks.

pure Gold. :D

You can’t fight logic like that...

They will just watch......