I stood last June and July and said that we should be using every asset at our disposal, including our air force assets. It’s alright for ministers to take planes to Europe, to travel around and to try to get votes, but we can’t use those assets to bring Australians home?
We have obligations. The Australian passport and Australian citizenship must mean something. And if it doesn’t mean that you have a right to come Australia, then what does it mean?
The government has to explain that and the reason why … there are issues with regard to bringing people back to Australia, quarantine, and the government’s failure to look after quarantine. It delayed the expansion of Howard Springs for a long period of time.
You have state premiers – including premier Palaszczuk, premier McGowan, premier Andrews – saying since last year about having appropriate facilities.
The [federal] government received its own report from Jane Halton that it hasn’t acted on, and it also hasn’t acted on the recommendations in that report about ventilation systems in hotels and the need to fix that. This is a government that is not fulfilling its responsibilities to Australian citizens.