They will rue the day in court.

Sadly there is zero chance of a government stooge known as a judge ruling against his paymaster. Rule of law was always a lie,

I have a silk that would hurt them badly and works on contingency.
The position is wholly untenable and a huge surprise from a bunch of solicitor legislators.

https://www.un.org/en/universal-declara ... an-rights/

don't forget that Australian citizens have to compete with international students to get home too!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-19/ ... m/12568078

Dunderhead wrote: ↑Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:08 pm Sadly there is zero chance of a government stooge known as a judge ruling against his paymaster. Rule of law was always a lie,

What bollox.

The legal route is Judicial Review. In the UK the government are regularly judicially reviewed and often lose. At the very least the legality of government actions are given proper scrutiny and judges are fearless in coming down against the government. Not opinion - fact. Anyone who knows anything about the English legal system knows that.

Australia has the same procedure having a similar legal system as the UK. I am surprised that nobody has attempted to have their actions legally scrutinised. Maybe they have and found that the government is on solid legal ground.

It would be an interesting case and very much in the public interest to establish the extent of the governments powers regarding arbitrary restrictions of entry of citizens based upon a quota system due to the government's inability or unwillingness to establish and maintain an effective quarantine system that is fit for purpose. That is the issue as I see it.

Looks like ScoMo read this thread...

Morrison looking at options to help Australians stranded overseas

Australians stranded overseas could get a lifeline with the Prime Minister asking key ministers to come up with options to help citizens who can't get home.

"We acknowledge that some of them are in some difficult circumstances," he said.

"Our consular teams are doing a great job to help them in those circumstances and we’ll be doing more to help them in those circumstances and to assist them to get home within those caps."

There are about 18,800 Australian residents overseas who have told embassies they want to return home. But international arrivals to Australian airports are capped at just under 4000 people a week.

More:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal ... 55o4g.html

Constitutional question: is it legal to limit how many Australian citizens can fly home each week?
Prof Kim Rubenstein says the answer boils down to whether the regulation is ‘proportionate’ to the desired outcome – protecting public health
Last modified on Tue 25 Aug 2020 19.18 BST
Legal experts are warning Australia’s strict caps on international passenger arrivals could be unconstitutional, as hundreds of desperate Australians stranded overseas without access to flights home consider a potential class action.

Questions are being asked about the lawfulness of the caps following revelations last week that the limits are creating a “significant challenge” for 18,800 Australians trying to secure increasingly scarce and expensive flights home.

The caps on international arrivals are also causing unease within federal government ranks, with four members speaking out on the issue at a joint Coalition party room meeting on Tuesday.

Kim Rubenstein, a professor of constitutional and citizenship law at the University of Canberra, said Australians unable to return home could argue the caps were unlawful.

Rubenstein said the high court in 1988 ruled the right of an “Australian citizen to enter the country is not qualified by any law imposing a need to obtain a licence or ‘clearance’ from the executive”.

She told the Guardian those seeking legal redress could look to rely on that statement, but noted because Australia does not have a bill of rights, the stated right was “not an absolute right”.

“The extent to which the commonwealth can make a law and limit that right (to enter the country) and put a cap on the number of citizens allowed back at any time would have to link back, as it appears now, to another public policy objective such as the health of the nation,” Rubenstein said.

“Then the question would boil down to whether that regulation is proportionate to the end being sought, or whether there were different ways of making that law sit within the power the commonwealth may seek to use to regulate citizens’ re-entry.”

Rubenstein said it could be argued the caps should be raised with quarantine facilities set up similar to when Christmas Island was used to house Wuhan evacuees. Alternatively, returning travellers could potentially wear tracking bracelets in mainland Australia.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, attempted to reassure colleagues on Tuesday by pointing out Canberra was working with the states to review overseas arrival numbers regularly, but some backbenchers stressed the need to provide support to Australian citizens stuck offshore.

The Guardian has been contacted by scores of Australians pleading for help including essential medical workers, families trapped in Lebanon following the Beirut explosion, and others forced to live in caravans for months. Other Australians who planned to briefly travel overseas to visit dying relatives are now facing an indefinite period away from their schools, jobs, secure accommodation and families.

Repatriating stranded Australians is a controversial issue with the latest Guardian Essential poll showing 65% of respondents favoured closing the international border to all foreign travellers including returning Australians.

Many of those stranded reject claims they ignored government travel advice, especially those who exited with valid exemptions, or those who lived permanently overseas but were unable to sell properties and find jobs in Australia by the time the caps were introduced.

Customers have accused airlines of repeatedly cancelling economy tickets in order to carry more business class passengers as they struggle to remain profitable under the caps. Qatar Airways acknowledged it is now considering a ticket’s value and class when determining which passengers they will fly to Australia.

Introduced in July to ease pressure on states’ hotel quarantine regimes, the caps mean some international flights are limited to 30 passengers or fewer, with reports some planes have carried as few as four economy passengers. About 4,000 people in total can fly into Australian airports each week.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is investigating whether airlines are breaching consumer laws by cancelling economy tickets while simultaneously selling more expensive seats for the same service.

The legal questions around Australia’s border policies include the decision by state governments to charge returning Australians for mandatory hotel quarantine. Chris Douglas, a former Australian federal police officer and anti-money laundering consultant, has questioned the legality of the policy.

Full article: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... -each-week

Wow! I don't think even a Trump Administration would keep their own citizens out during a pandemic. My sympathies = This Covid 19 situation is causing massive social damage. Who would have guess such a thing could happen?