Members of the Indian-Australian community have expressed outrage over the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by both the West Australian and Federal government.
They have also raised concerns over the WA Premier Mark McGowan discussing the circumstances of a man at the centre of the latest COVID-19 outbreak.
first published details of the man last week, revealing he’d travelled to get married in India last December before returning in April and testing positive for the virus while in hotel quarantine in Perth.
When asked by the paper about the man’s situation, the Department of Home Affairs said it does comment on individual cases.
But Mr McGowan did not take the same approach. In his press conference, he fired up at the Federal Government, slamming its decision to allow the man to travel during the pandemic.
“It was not his fault that it spread across the corridor. But the fact of the matter is the Commonwealth let him go to India recently,” Mr McGowan said last week.
"People have gone over there...for weddings, funerals or to play sport, and I don't think that was necessary.”
A few days following the press conference, announced the India travel ban, prohibiting Australians from returning until at least May 15.
The emergency declaration, permitted under the Biosecurity Act, states Australian citizens and residents could attract a $66,600 fine or a five-year jail term for breaching the suspension.
Daksh Kumar, an Indian-Australian living in Melbourne, felt Mr McGowan’s comments were upsetting to the community.
“McGowan made hurting remarks by saying going overseas for funerals or wedding is not essential,” Mr Kumar told The Feed.
“In Indian culture, marriage rituals are sacred and can not be done without family. So people can’t wait that long,” he said.
Mr Kumar is not alone in his outrage, according to Avneet Arora, the.
West Australia Premier Mark McGowan speaks to the media during a press conference in Perth, Sunday, May 2, 2021 Source: AAP
Ms Arora told The Feed that there is an outpouring of anger amongst many Indian-Australians who have told her they believe the WA premier used “very harsh language” and “breached the privacy” of the Indian traveller.
“A lot of people have reached out to us saying they've been subject to social media trolling when they try to defend their home country,” Ms Arora said.
“They’ve been subjected to racist slurs and vile comments from people.”
UNSW's head of biosecurity research, Professor Raina MacIntyre said it’s understandable that the man would travel to India in December, “at which time the epidemic looked like it was subsiding in India”.
“It was a reasonable decision at the time, and no doubt thousands of other cases were approved in a similar way,” she added.
The Feed sent a list of questions to the premier’s office but they went unanswered. Instead, the office sent a video of Mr McGowan after the travel ban was announced, along with a link to his .
“As frustrating as it is, this pandemic is still not over. We still have to make imperfect, preventative, unpopular and difficult decisions to keep the community safe,” Mr McGowan said in his address to the Indian community.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the Indian society of Western Australia, its member associations and the entire Indian community of Western Australia for its excellent efforts to keep the community informed, to help the vulnerable and to adhere to the requirements and restrictions.”
The West Australian has also been contacted for comment as to why it chose to publish details of the man’s travels. They did not respond before deadline.
Travel ban described as ‘discriminatory’
Mr Kumar believes the current travel ban is discriminatory towards the Indian community.
“It’s a racist attack towards all Indians,” he told The Feed.
“The covid spike was earlier with the UK too. But they never stopped [Australians from returning].”
Mr Kumar, an Australian citizen, and his wife Anu, who’s on a temporary partner visa, have been separated for 14 months as a result of the pandemic.
Daksh Kumar and his wife Anu have been separated for 14 months. Source: Supplied
Mr Kumar said he travelled to India in December 2019 to marry Anu but returned alone. His wife had chosen to travel to Australia at a later date but ended up trapped in India.
“My wife encountered tremendous hurdles [trying to return],” he said.
“After calling like 20 times to DFAT, she finally got a seat reserved with Qantas from Delhi to Darwin [in May] but due to the government decision it got cancelled.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said is “about getting people home safely” on the Nine Network on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses media during a press conference in Sydney, Tuesday, April 27, 2021. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts) NO ARCHIVING Source: AAP
He also claimed the chance of Australians receiving fines or penalties for trying to return home from India is “pretty much zero”.
When asked if the policy was racist on Monday, Mr Morrison told 2GB Radio "there is a raging pandemic and we need to just continue to take decisions that are in the best health interests of Australia.”
‘A nightmare on repeat’
As COVID-19 infections skyrocket, Ms Arora said it’s not far-fetched to assume most Indian households have been impacted by the “COVID tsunami”.
“Within SBS Punjabi, two of my team members have lost more than one member of their [immediate] family, while many others are on ventilators. They're battling for their lives,” she said.
Ms Arora said she’s heard cases of crematoriums being overwhelmed and families having to wait anywhere between eight to 10 hours to cremate their loved ones.
Professor MacIntyre told The Feed India has a record number of daily new cases, with nearly 20 million cases and 300,000 new cases a day.
“There are at least three variants circulating in India, including the UK B117, the South African B1351 and the Indian B1617,” Professor MacIntyre said.
“The latter is termed a variant of interest by WHO, because it impacts on transmission, severity and vaccine escape if not yet fully understood.”
The Indian government has faced enormous backlash for to remove content challenging the government’s handling of the crisis.
The Indian High Commission to the editor-in-chief of The Australian, Christopher Doe, claiming it had reproduced “a completely baseless, malicious and slanderous article without bothering to check the facts.”
had attributed the second wave of coronavirus in the country to the missteps and alleged complacency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Professor MacIntyre said Australia is the only country to prevent citizens from returning, with the threat of imprisonment and substantial fines.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Source: AAP Image/EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
“We have a human rights obligation to help repatriate citizens stranded overseas,” she said.
She believes there is a reluctance to improve the safety of hotel quarantine that stems from Australia’s national guidelines on infection control, which she said do not address airborne transmission or ventilation adequately.
Professor MacIntyre said these guidelines must be updated to mitigate airborne transmission by providing all workers in hotel quarantine a N95 respirator, reducing their time in low ventilation spaces and selecting hotels based on testing the adequacy of their ventilation or ability to install workarounds such as air purifiers.
“These are reasonably cost-effective solutions that can be done rapidly. We also need to ensure that all workers have received two doses of vaccine,” Professor MacIntyre said.
“In WA, an infected hotel quarantine staff member had only had 1 dose by April, which is shocking.”
For Mr Kumar, it’s the uncertainty about the future that is the hardest for him and his wife to overcome.
“I don't know what to do next and what is gonna happen next,” he told The Feed.
“So what is the use of having Australian citizenship and a passport if our own government is not helping us when there is dire need.”
