The first flight of repatriated Australians from coronavirus-ravaged India has been transferred to the Howard Springs quarantine facility after touching down at Darwin airport.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It is the first flight from the country after the Australian government controversially banned flights from India on May 3 and announced anyone - including citizens - who tried to defy the new rules would be fined up to $66,600 or risk five years' jail, or both.
More than 40 people who tested positive pre-flight along with about 30 of their close contacts were barred from returning on Qantas flight QF112, which had a COVID-safe capacity of 150 seats.
About 80 returnees are understood to have made it onto the eight-and-a-half hour flight from New Delhi, which touched down about 9.25am AEST on Saturday.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said testing in India prior to further flights will continue to ensure Australia was protected from the virus.
"We're dealing with a situation where we've seen more than 800,000 new COVID cases a day, there are new variants of the virus," he told reporters in Melbourne.
"We've got to maintain our health settings because we know how damaging to the livelihoods of Australians an outbreak would be."
More than 9000 Australians are registered as wanting to return, with about 900 of them said to be desperate or vulnerable.
Meanwhile in parliament, the House of Representatives' speaker Tony Smith will soon rule whether to proceed with a request to hold Facebook in contempt of parliament for banning an MP from its platforms.
After receiving a request from Hughes MP Craig Kelly, Mr Smith must decide whether Facebook is in contempt for banning Mr Kelly's online profile on April 26 for repeatedly spreading of health misinformation during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Smith will rule on the matter when politicians return to Canberra in the last week of May.
In business news, Melbourne landscaper Stuart Griffiths, 48, is the first small business tradesman verified by the federal government as carbon neutral.
Mr Griffiths is on a mission to slash industry emissions and prove it can be done profitably.
His outfit, Eco-Green Garden Care, secured the status in March under the Department of Industry's Climate Active initiative after taking steps to cut its carbon footprint.
With house prices at record high across various parts of the nation, mums and dads are being urged to be cautious in lending money to their children to secure home loan deposits.
Accounting for $29 billion annually, the banks of mums and dads is the nation's ninth-largest mortgage lender and a port of call for almost 4000 "kidults" every month, according to comparison site Finder.
However, housing specialist Martin North said it was not always good thing.
He says the average loan is $90,000 but that's not the real concern. It's that adult children who borrow from parents are three-to-five times more likely to default on their mortgage within five years.
Did you know you can receive this daily digest by email? Sign up here
*This edition of The Informer was written by The Canberra Times reporter Toby Vue. If you'd like to show your support for the team behind The Informer, why not forward us to a friend?
THE NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- 'Too young to die': Road to recovery driven by resolve
- Second greyhound death at Devonport track sparkis call for new track
- A snowy start to the weekend
- Green light for $540m solar farm; major boost for surrounding area
- All the winners from last night's cultural heritage awards
- Never underestimate the enemy: 10 tips for keeping mice at bay
- Fourth bin set to roll out across city
- Should councils tax you? Leaders once wanted a slice of your income