The federal government will charter another 20 flights to bring home Australians stranded overseas.
The repatriation flights will come from priority locations around the world and will be in addition to current traveller caps, Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Birmingham said on Saturday.
Caps on international arrivals in NSW, Western Australia and Queensland have been halved until mid-February, so the chartered flights would land in the Northern Territory, Canberra and Tasmania on a case-by-case basis, he said.
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Mr Birmingham said the absence of Emirates would not hinder flight availability. The capacity that Emirates was able to use within the cap will be allocated to other airlines ensuring that there are still as many tickets into Australia after Emirates decision as there would have been beforehand, Mr Birmingham said.
How Victoria s new coronavirus traffic light system for border restrictions works
MonMonday 11
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JanJanuary 2021 at 2:12am
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Practically everyone who wants to travel to Victoria from interstate needs to apply for a permit.
Premier Daniel Andrews described the new process as a commonsense traffic light system that will make it easier to understand the rules based on where you are.
Here is how the permit system works.
What s new?
Under this new system, everyone across Australia bar border bubble residents needs to apply for a permit via Service Victoria.
Premier Daniel Andrews has announced the introduction of a "traffic light" system that will be used to categorise the COVID-19 risk of each state and territory.