Australia closes sneaky loophole that let travellers get back from India


Australia closes loophole that allowed travellers to easily come back from India by flying to Qatar and changing planes after cricketers bailed home in just 11 hours

  • Australia closed loophole that allowed travellers from India dodge flight ban    
  • People in India were allowed to fly to Australia after transiting through Qatar
  • Australian cricketers Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson dodged restriction
  • Australia paused all flights from the Asian nation until May 15 because of Covid 
  • Covid situation in India spiraling, 379K new cases were recorded on Thursday

Australia has slammed shut a loophole that allowed travellers from India to dodge a flight ban through transiting in Qatar.

India’s spiralling coronavirus catastrophe prompted Australia to pause all flights from the Asian nation until May 15.

Despite the ban, people who had been in India were allowed to fly to Australia after transiting through Qatar’s capital Doha.

Cricketer Adam Zampa (pictured with his fiancée Harriet Palmer) used the loophole to flee India after the Premier League

Cricketer Adam Zampa (pictured with his fiancée Harriet Palmer) used the loophole to flee India after the Premier League

Australian cricketers Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson were among those who dodged the restriction after leaving the Indian Premier League.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the loophole was closed shortly after their flight took off from Doha on Wednesday.

‘Those transit passengers, the airlines advise us, are no longer coming through from Doha,’ he told Sydney radio 2GB radio on Friday.

‘The advice we had wasn’t fully correct so when we got the additional information we took that action.’

Australia's Adam Zampa (left) and teammate Kane Richardson (right) used the loophole to flee India and arrived in Melbourne on Thursday night

Australia’s Adam Zampa (left) and teammate Kane Richardson (right) used the loophole to flee India and arrived in Melbourne on Thursday night

Mr Morrison flagged further safeguards on stopping people using third countries to evade the Indian travel ban would be applied after Friday’s national cabinet meeting.

On Tuesday the prime minister said indirect flights through Doha, Dubai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur would be banned in a bid to keep people who had been in India out.

He now says the advice the government received before announcing the restrictions was wrong.

National cabinet will on Friday consider classifying more countries as high risk with India the sole nation on Australia’s list.

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly and foreign affairs officials have been putting together a list of high-risk countries for consideration.

Travellers departing India can get around Australia's ban by transiting through the Qatar capital of Doha. Pictured are international travellers reuniting with loved ones at Sydney Airport

Travellers departing India can get around Australia’s ban by transiting through the Qatar capital of Doha. Pictured are international travellers reuniting with loved ones at Sydney Airport

India set another gut-wrenching world record on Thursday with more than 379,000 new cases and 3645 deaths.

Flights from there have been paused until at least May 15, leaving thousands of Australians trying to escape the disease disaster even more stranded than before.

The vaccine rollout is also high on the meeting of federal and state leaders’ agenda with the pace of jabs slowly gaining momentum after a sluggish first two months.

‘This is just a matter of just continuing to keep those clinic doors open, booking the jabs, getting them through,’ Mr Morrison said.

Wrangling between the federal government and states continues with Victoria asking for money to establish a quarantine hub in Melbourne’s north.

The loophole that allowed travellers from India to arrive in Australia by transiting through Doha has been closed (Stock)

The loophole that allowed travellers from India to arrive in Australia by transiting through Doha has been closed (Stock)

Defence Minister Peter Dutton knocked the plan on the head because it requires $200 million in federal funding, while the state government is chipping in $15 million.

‘I have seen some political smoke and mirrors over my time and I think this is right at the top of the list,’ Mr Dutton told the Nine Network.

The federal government is adamant hotels remain the preferred option to house people coming from overseas despite state pleas to set up purpose-built facilities.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles said the federal government had shirked its constitutional responsibility for quarantine.

‘Hotels are not fit for purpose,’ he told Nine.

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