Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday said the travel ban on Australians returning home from coronavirus-hit India will not be extended beyond May 15 and repatriation flights will commence soon.
The Australian government, for the first time in history, recently imposed a temporary ban on its citizens from returning home, if they have spent time in India up to 14 days before flying back.
The government threatened to prosecute them with a possibility of five years of jail term or a penalty of 66,000 Australian dollars (USD 50,899).
The government’s order on the matter is set to expire on May 15.
Following the National Security Committee on Friday, Morrison agreed it saw “no need to extend it beyond that date”.
“The original decision to put in place that biosecurity order until May 15 has proved very effective and it will run its full course until that time without any change,” he said.
Morrison’s remarks came a day after the ban was challenged in the federal court in Sydney by a 73-year-old Australian, who has been stranded in Bengaluru since March last year.
“What we will be doing is receiving our first repatriation flight into the Northern Territory as part of the charter arrangements we have … to bring back those first people from India at that time,” Morrison said.
