DFAT Warning [Do NOT Travel overseas]

[drron]

Poor Griselda.

What do you mean.Griselda is here in Australia.TH away time for a party.Pity you aren't supposed to have one.

 

[pottsy]

Australians are being encouraged to fly home as soon as possible if overseas. Sounds like we may be about to close our borders.

Thanks for the info, given the over reaction everywhere I wouldn't be surprised! Will investigate & post afterwards.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I still wonder how one of my co-workers is doing, he's currently climbing something in Nepal so no idea if he knows what he's in for.

Having trekked there myself including to 4200m not long back, all his porters with have mobiles with internet, as will the the tea-houses.

Most likely he, or at least one of his group will have internet and email access. So he probably will have a reasonable idea.

Post automatically merged: Mar 18, 2020

Thanks for the info, given the over reaction everywhere I wouldn't be surprised! Will investigate & post afterwards.

Over reaction?

 

[p--and--t]

One of the "cover" reasons I saw was that DFAT staff are likely to be caught up in the rolling lock-downs around the world and will be unable to provide any consular support to aussies travelling overseas that get into any sort of trouble or get stuck somewhere for an indeterminate period of time due to a lock-down or airlines folding etc..

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Also on the thread title, my guess it will not be all flights, but rather all passenger flights.

I would suspect some urgent freight flights would still be required. ie Medical supplies, reagents and the like...even ventilators if China starts making them again.

 

[CaptJCool]

This seems kind of inevitable. Especially with worldwide travel bans from Europe to Malaysia to .....and the source of most of the early infections....

There’s been goss on closing borders in WA, and Tas... there’s been goss that lockdowns might see restaurants shut too...
ATM because capital cities are quite some distance apart, people arent generally hopping in the car and driving into another State (aside Sydney and ACT)

Is it true no one crosses the border into SA?

 

[Flashback]

I don't think the issue is lockdown but more so there just may not be any route available to get home. Overnight IAG announced up to 75% of their schedule will be cancelled for April and May so as more of the airlines do this it becomes more difficult to get home. Anyway, I suppose we will see.

 

[oz_mark]

Unless there is a serious uptick in the numbers in the next day or two, I suspect they will wait a bit longer to see how the last set of restrictions went. The numbers lag a bit, and the infections reported today really reflect something that happened 14 days ago.

Not to say they won't close the borders....

 

[levelnine]

I don't think there's any worry of Australia closing its border to Australian citizens. Indeed, it would be legally dubious for a state to attempt to refuse entry to its own citizens.

However, there is a very real possibility that there will be no available commercial flights on which to fly with airlines cutting their international routes at an astonishing rate.

 

[amaroo]

SMH reporting schools will continue to operate and no imposed mass isolating.

At this stage.

 

[opusman]

Italy put off shutting the schools until it was too late as well.

 

[amaroo]

Italy put off shutting the schools until it was too late as well.

Italy is really copping it. Death rate still hitting ~ 8% and 8% of total infected are health care workers.

 

[RooFlyer]

I don't think there's any worry of Australia closing its border to Australian citizens. Indeed, it would be legally dubious for a state to attempt to refuse entry to its own citizens.

Exactly. Australia cannot close its border to it's citizens. The border will not be "closed".
Getting on a mode of transport to get to the border is another matter.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Exactly. Australia cannot close its border to it's citizens. The border will not be "closed".
Getting on a mode of transport to get to the border is another matter.

Well said. The panic continues to build without rational thought.

If the government does effectively close us off by disallowing entry to foreign citizens, freight will still operate and operating air and sea crew will be exempted. Sincerely hope that if/when the announcement is made this is said clearly and multiple times so it sinks in. People need to know the country isn't going to be cut off entirely from the world.

 

[Kangol]

Exactly. Australia cannot close its border to it's citizens. The border will not be "closed".
Getting on a mode of transport to get to the border is another matter.

Of all the countries that have recently closed their border due to the coronavirus, have any blocked their own citizens from entering?

 

[Must...Fly!]

Of all the countries that have recently closed their border due to the coronavirus, have any blocked their own citizens from entering?

We can't stop citizens returning from fighting from Islamic State legally so we can't stop those who might or might not be infected with this virus

 

[RooFlyer]

Of all the countries that have recently closed their border due to the coronavirus, have any blocked their own citizens from entering?

I haven't tracked that, but I would be surprised if that happened, except for bureaucratic bungling.

 

[Kangol]

We can't stop citizens returning from fighting from Islamic State legally so we can't stop those who might or might not be infected with this virus

Thankyou for your reply, does not answer the question though, can anyone help?

 

[file51]

Virgin Australia have just announced it is cancelling 100% of all international flights till June.

Sorry I missed the start date.

So yes, it is seeming to be more a case of being able to get home... by commercial means

 

[Melburnian1]

Well said. The panic continues to build without rational thought.,,

Yes, many are overreacting such as going out and buying freezers and raiding supermarkets' stocks of frozen food but we also have medical experts informing us that the virus has yet to peak, so in some ways at least some reaction from us all that this isn't 'normality' is understandable.

And this trendy new term of 'social distancing' is receiving widespread publicity, with those in the health sector (e.g. hospitals) apparently practicising it in meetings by staying a metre or 1.5m from each other. So if they're doing that, can we blame others for not travelling by air and reducing trips on local transport?