Friday could prove to be a slightly more awkward than usual meeting of the national cabinet, with leaders coming together as they look to put an escalating list scandals behind them.
Daniel Andrews will come face-to-face (virtually) with Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the end of a week where federal ministers repeatedly laid the boot into Victorian Premier over his lockdown strategy.
Gladys Berejiklian, meanwhile, will probably welcome a distraction from the darkening ICAC clouds gathering over her head in Sydney.
The PM will be glad to draw attention away from the awkward situation he found himself in this week as he campaigned alongside Queensland Liberal leader Deb Frecklington just as she was embroiled in a donation scandal. That could also leave QLD Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in a slightly uncomfortable spot, with Mr Morrison having spent the week talking up her rival in the October 31 poll.
Party leaders in three states face independent inquiries over their actions in the political arena, COVID cases are popping up nationwide, and imminent elections in the Australian Capital Territory and QLD will only add to the intrigue.
Welcome to another fun day at the national cabinet.
It’ll be the first leaders’ meeting since mid-September, with the usual fortnightly video linkup postponed earlier this month due to its proximity to the federal budget.
A fair bit has happened since then.
Victoria’s COVID numbers have plummeted, down to a “stubborn tail”, but the state is not on track to open up widely this weekend, as earlier planned. Mr Andrews has seen the shock resignation of his top public servant, in connection to the hotel quarantine inquiry. Ms Berejiklian’s previous Teflon image has been smashed by the ICAC’s Operation Keppel, and the explosive revelations of her five-year secret relationship with the man at the centre of it. Ms Frecklington was embroiled in a donations scandal, as she squares off with Ms Palaszczuk, in the very week Mr Morrison headed north to spruik his budget in the Sunshine State.
Mr Morrison’s federal colleagues Josh Frydenberg and Greg Hunt, meanwhile, have taken shots at Mr Andrews all week.
In short, they’ve probably got a lot of catching up to do.
My message to the Premier of Victoria today and every day, is please understand the significant impact the harsh lockdown is having on the mental health of Victorians.
The Morrison Government will continue to do everything we can to support Victorians. pic.twitter.com/qBGkKdWhgN
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) October 14, 2020
But aside from the usual discussions on lowering border restrictions and state lockdowns, on boosting employment and social outcomes, and keeping COVID in check, the leaders will consider a plan to again raise the number of returning Aussies allowed to come home.
The ABC reports “thousands more” people will be allowed to return home from overseas, with an ambitious plan to quarantine passengers at the Commonwealth facility at Howard Springs, in the Northern Territory.
You might remember that one from the infamous ‘quarantine rave party’ captured on social media recently, where people ostensibly meant to be locked in their rooms had an impromptu dance outside. Needless to say, this is not a standard measure in the COVID quarantine process.
Commercial and charter flights will zoom into the RAAF base at Darwin, before passengers – up to 1000 a month – will be placed into the Howard Springs accommodation, under the plan reported by the ABC.
Planes taking off from London and India will ferry people home, with the government reportedly subsidising the cost of the flights.
Mr Morrison had come under fire from the Labor opposition, and the thousands of people stuck overseas, for not doing more to bring people home. A Senate inquiry heard heartbreaking testimony recently, of people unable to return home due to flight quotas, passenger c
aps, and airlines charging extortionate fees for one-way tickets.
“The cap has abandoned my family and it’s abandoned our citizens,” said Peta Stoyanovich, whose husband Luke is stuck in Serbia.
“They are not stranded – they are abandoned by the government.”
Mr Morrison said on Thursday that the government had done “extensive preparations” on the Howard Springs plan, and was in “the final stages of concluding those arrangements”.
“We’ve been working now for some months as we’ve been getting more and more Australians home, particularly those in vulnerable situations,” he said.
It’s also understood Mr Morrison will ask the states to lift the number of returning travellers into capital cities. That cap was lifted only a few weeks ago, but the federal government wants to boost it one more time.
It should prove to be an interesting national cabinet, to say the least.
