Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has taken a swipe at Australian airlines over their refusal to check travellers border permits while also hinting the state may need tougher border control measures.The comments come a day after authorities revealed two women had flown on a Qantas flight from Sydney into Victoria on bogus permits, and later tested positive for coronavirus.
Mr Andrews said officials asked airline staff to check permits at interstate and red zone airports, but they had refused.
He said he wouldn’t hesitate to send authorised officers to Sydney airport to stop people from the red zone getting on planes.
“I would have thought airlines might be able to play that role for us,” he said.
“I‘m not here today to have a crack at airlines. But I think airlines have been pretty generously supported by taxpayers and it wouldn’t be too much to ask them to check whether someone has a permit or not.
“We can’t have people who have no valid documents, that don’t have that permit, to come to Victoria.”
Victoria has strengthened its border to NSW in recent weeks, as the neighbouring state battles a Delta outbreak that has reached crisis levels.
The state recorded 390 new locally acquired COVID-19 infections in the 24 hours to 8:00pm yesterday, 250 of which were not linked to a known case or cluster.
Two more people also died after contracting the virus, bringing the number of Covid-related deaths to 38 during the current outbreak
With cases in NSW showing no signs of decreasing anytime soon, Mr Andrews said his state may consider border measures tougher than the ones currently in place.
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Currently only people who have an exemption or need to provide or receive emergency medical care can travel from NSW into Victoria.
Cross border residents travelling for a permitted reason can also cross the border, but only for six essential reasons and with a permit.
State lines are being heavily patrolled by police on the ground, but air travel continues to remain a point of contention.
Mr Andrews said the permit system had been working effectively so far.
“It’s served us well to the point where we have found people who are actually positive with this virus travelling on bogus permits,” he said.
“If we need to go further than that we will. and that might just be us having to do even more.”
rhiannon.tuffield@news.com.au