Border closure fuels complacency over vaccines: Labor frontbencher

He added that closing Australia off from the rest of the world indefinitely was not good for the nation.

“I genuinely worry, we’re a relatively small nation, we’ve got the benefit of being an island continent and we’re shutting ourselves off from the rest of the world as we’re getting our act together,” he said.

“What this does to us socially in terms of being closed off from the rest of the world, I don’t think this is a good long-term prescription for the nation and we do need to get our act on this sooner rather than later.”

Mr Husic’s comments are some of the strongest criticisms made by a Labor frontbencher of the border bans to date.

Liberal MP Dave SharmaCredit:Alex Ellinghausen

Liberal backbencher Dave Sharma said the border closures were agreed by the national cabinet comprising the Prime Minister and the premiers, including Labor ones.

“I don’t think there’s any intent on behalf of the government or certainly anyone in the parliament to keep the borders closed for any longer than is necessary,” Mr Sharma said.

“Obviously high levels of vaccination will help us open the borders quicker, diminishment of the disease overseas will help us open the borders quicker and the risk profile of the country where we’re hoping to open the borders with.”

Human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson told the program the border closures were unlawfully locking Australian citizens out of their own country.

The London based lawyer works at Doughty Street Chambers, which is acting for stranded Australians at the UN High Rights committee.

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“Border closures aren’t an answer and certainly not a long-term answer,” Ms Robinson said.

“The bungle that this has been is not only negligent but it’s going to cost Australian lives and has already cost Australian lives.

“Border closures aren’t a long-term solution.

“We’ve got 36,000 Australians stranded overseas who aren’t able to come home which is unlawful.”

Australia is the only country to require its citizens to apply for a government permit to leave the country during the pandemic.

Its decision to limit the number of Australians who can enter the country in a single week has caused tens of thousands of citizens to be locked out of their country.

Earlier this month, the Australian government temporarily banned all flights from India and threatened citizens with jail and $66,000 fines if they tried to get home.

The federal government has said the international border could start to reopen in the middle of next year.

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