Topics: Cancellation of event to host Taliban spokesperson; Queensland Premier’s state border closures; gradual reopening of international borders in line with National Plan.
CHRIS KENNY: Let’s go now to the Gold Coast and catch up with the Home Affairs Minister, Karen Andrews. Thanks for joining us. Minister, I’m really keen first up to get your thoughts on that forum that was going to host speakers from the Taliban. You’d be very pleased that it’s been cancelled? Are the Taliban a proscribed group in Australia? Are they listed as a terrorist group?
KAREN ANDREWS: Chris, let me start by saying how pleased I am that forum is not going ahead. I was very concerned when I heard about it and heard the Taliban were going to be invited and were going to be speaking there. Our concerns were multiple; I mean, firstly, there’s a whole range of issues in Afghanistan; we’ve been part of the evacuation along with many other nations across the world. Clearly, Afghanistan is experiencing a level of chaos and turmoil at the moment. The Taliban is going through its own processes, and I don’t condone many of their actions.
CHRIS KENNY: Sure, but lots of terrorist groups are proscribed in this country. They’re identified as terrorist groups – Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaeda – is the Taliban proscribed as such?
KAREN ANDREWS: No, it’s not. We will be clearly going through a process in relation to a number of terrorist organisations, and we are clearly watching what happens with the Taliban and what they are doing. We don’t condone their actions of the past. We don’t condone what they have done to the people of Afghanistan, particularly to women and children there. We will be watching very closely what the actions of the Taliban are.
CHRIS KENNY: Yeah, it’s an interesting one. Because in many respects they should be declared a terrorist group, but at the same time they’re formally running a country, so go figure. But I’ll follow up on that one because obviously that would be an illegal thing; to host them on a speaking forum in Australia if they were a proscribed organisation. I want to get back to domestic politics. You’ve been speaking out in favour of your own home state of Queensland, of course wanting the tourism industry to liven up. Yet you’re getting no support from the Labor Premier there in terms of giving some certainty about opening the borders. So many people would love to go to Queensland now, yet it’s still shut up like a hermit kingdom.
KAREN ANDREWS: It’s an appalling situation – quite frankly – in Queensland at the moment. Yes, I’ve been appealing to the Premier to do all she can to reopen those borders – domestically – as soon as she possibly can. What is so difficult for us is that there is no certainty; there’s no commitments that are coming from the Queensland state Labor government at all as to what their intentions are. That’s not good enough; it’s not good enough for the families that have been separated – whether that’s across the border in New South Wales in particular or whether it’s other parts of Australia who can’t get in here – nor can Queenslanders come back home in many circumstances. We’ve been shut out of our own state, which is just an appalling set of circumstances. What’s going to happen-
CHRIS KENNY: Sorry to interrupt, Minister, but doesn’t the National Plan say that when Queensland gets to 80 per cent full vaccination – and the other states the same – then those borders cannot be closed, should not be closed?
KAREN ANDREWS: The National Plan is very clear about what will happen at 70 per cent, at 80 per cent and beyond that – which is Phase D where we are fully reopened and there is going to be free movement across our international borders. Phase D is where we will be absolutely fully open.
The Queensland Premier needs to ensure that she is going down the path of reopening Queensland’s borders. The concern that I have for Queensland is that we will just miss out on what is happening, particularly in New South Wales. Domestically we have some real issues with the tourism industry. It affects the Gold Coast – and I’m one of the Federal MPs here – but it also affects all parts of Queensland. As New South Wales opens, flights will go into Sydney. That means they’re not coming into the Gold Coast; or Brisbane; or Townsville; or Cairns. Not at the level we need them to be coming in.
Airlines need to make sure they have time to put in place what they need to; to get the aircraft where they need to be; to make sure they’ve got the flights ready to go; that their crew are ready to go. My understanding is that we’re now in a seven-day critical timeframe, and if we don’t get clear direction out of the Queensland Premier then we are putting at risk yet another holiday period, because there will be insufficient time for airlines to lock in the flights that they need.
CHRIS KENNY: Now what about – from the Federal point of view – Australians and others wanting to get into Australia from overseas? Isn’t it time to lift all those limits and to accelerate our plans to do that? At least into New South Wales and Victoria where – of course – there is Covid circulating in the community? Very few people are testing positive in hotel quarantine. If they’re vaccinated and they test negative after arrival, shouldn’t they be free to go on their way?
KAREN ANDREWS: I’m all for opening our international borders as soon as we possibly can. Work is well underway – Border Force is finalising all the work it needs to do. We’re working very closely with the airlines and the airports, to make sure that we can make it very easy for passengers to go through the terminals. We’re probably in the final stages of that and – yes – we will make it easier for people to come in and out of this country.
CHRIS KENNY: Yeah, the sooner the better. Minister, thanks so much for joining us.
KAREN ANDREWS: A pleasure.