Qld to welcome home more stranded Aussies

Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement after National Cabinet on Friday, thanking Queensland and Western Australia, as well as NSW for agreeing to increase their capacity.

The international arrival caps will be increased from 4000 a week to 6000.

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“This will help get more Australians home. The Australians trying to get home at the moment are in a range of circumstances,” Mr Morrison said.

“These are Australians coming home to Australia.”

Staggering of the increase in incoming flight capacities would give the states additional time to get their quarantine arrangements in place.

By Sunday September 27, Queensland will welcome an extra 200 Australians returning home each week.

That will increase again on October 4, which will see an extra 300 people able to be quarantined in Queensland.

By that point, there will be an extra 500 arrivals in the sunshine state each week, totalling 1000 returning travellers going into Queensland hotel quarantine each week.

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Annastacia Palaszczuk said she wanted to help bring home the thousands of stranded Australians.

“It’s been heartbreaking to hear the stories of Queenslanders trapped overseas… young people trapped overseas without an income desperate to come home,” she said.

“We know the virus is spreading across Europe with large spikes in COVID-19 cases.

“Mums and dads, families and friends are desperate for their loved ones to come home.

“I want to do everything we possibly can.”

Ms Palaszczuk said returning travellers could be housed in Cairns, as well as Brisbane, with the possibility of some quarantining in Gladstone.

“We’re putting out an expression of interest,” she said.

Mr Morrison said ADF assistance will be available to support Queensland, to which Ms Palaszczuk said was the right move.

“I thank Scott Morrison for agreeing to that,” she said.

Western Australia will also begin the process of hosting extra returning Australians, set to receive an extra 500 people a week by October 11.

In NSW, the quarantine capacity will increase to 3000 per week.

Other states are on standby to support any extra commercial flights into Australia.

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