Backlash within Coalition over ‘extreme’ and ‘heavy-handed’ India travel ban
One government MP says biosecurity powers offer ‘an insane level of power for a single minister to wield’
Legal challenges loom over India travel ban
Does the health justification stack up?
Scott Morrison, Greg Hunt, Brendan Murphy and Paul Kelly
Katharine Murphy and Sarah Martin
Tue 4 May 2021 03.30 AEST
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The Morrison government is battling a significant backlash within its own ranks over the controversial decision to criminalise returning to Australia from Covid-ravaged India, with Coalition MPs characterising the move as “extreme” and “heavy-handed”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australi...dia-travel-ban
Fiona Martin, the Liberal member for Reid, a Sydney electorate with a substantial Indian community, told Guardian Australia the travel ban and related legal penalties were “quite heavy-handed”.
“There are a lot of Australians stuck in India that we should be bringing home as a priority,” Martin said, adding it was her “hope” that repatriation flights would begin “as soon as possible”.
The Liberal MP Dave Sharma also raised concerns.
“There is little doubt this is an extreme measure and that it is causing significant hardship to the Australian Indian community,” he said.
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“It can only be justified on the basis of the unprecedented outbreak in India underway and the significantly heightened risk which this poses. I fully expect these restrictions will only be temporary and that enhanced powers will be used only sparingly and as a last resort.”
The Sydney-based member for Berowra, Julian Leeser, confirmed he had been speaking to community leaders over the weekend and had conveyed their concerns “to a range of ministers”.