Is Australia’s India Travel Ban Racist?
The decision by the Australian government to threaten its citizens returning from…
The decision by the Australian government to threaten its citizens returning from India with prison time and huge fans in a bid to avoid an outbreak of COVID-19 has been called racist and discriminatory as well as ignoring the human rights of its own nationals.
From earlier today Canberra passed a controversial new ruling that any Australian passport holder returning from any location on the subcontinent faces a maximum prison sentence of five years in prison and heavy fines.
The ruling will remain in force until mid-May, and the claims of racism by people around the world have already been dismissed by Australia’s Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.
Speaking to a radio station in Sydney, Mr. Morrison said “(T)he same accusations were made against the government over a year ago when we closed the borders to mainland China,” he told Sydney radio station 2GB” adding “(T)here’s no politics or ideology in a pandemic… It’s got nothing to do with politics, this is a virus.”
In response to the ruling, the nation’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne told the media that arrivals from India represented over 50% of all positive coronavirus cases currently being held in quarantine.
Just over a month ago this figure stood at 10%.
The increase she said added a “very, very significant burden on health and medical services” in Australia.
