by Ganesh Sahathevan
Morrison's joint press conference
Australia's Minister for Trade and Tourism, Dan Tehan, will soon be arriving in Singapore for trade talks. Tehan can be expected to try and negotiate trade concessions in favour of Australia, and he has already warned that a Singapore-Australia travel bubble is not a priority.
Meanwhile as a result of travel restrictions announced on 2 July 2021 and early last year, Singapore will be even more burdened by the cost of hosting Australian citizens prevented from returning to Australia. For reasons best known only to them, the Australian Government that Tehan represents does not seem to think that foreign nations would mind bearing the burden t of a policy that is increasingly seen as being politically motivated.
The leader of his party, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a sales and marketing man by profession, seems to have been convinced that votes will be lost by letting Australians return. Australia is the only country to have taken that step against its own citizens and permanent residents in its attempts to keep WuhanCovid out the island continent.
How Tehan expects to achieve anything in his talks with the Singapore Government, given the above, is a mystery.
TO BE READ WITH
Friday, July 9, 2021
Australian PM Morrison may have misled Singapore PM Lee into issuing joint communique on two-way travel -playing local politics Morrison may have caused Australia to be in breach of a treaty with Singapore, joint communiques can have legal effect
by Ganesh Sahathevan
Morrison's joint press conference
On 10 June 2021 Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison joined Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong in issuing a joint communique which included a section on two-way travel between the countries:
3. The Prime Ministers acknowledged the importance of open borders to the post-pandemic recovery and committed to resuming two-way cross-border travel when the public health situation in both countries permits. They welcomed the ongoing discussions between border, health, transport, and other officials to identify detailed operational requirements for COVID-19-safe travel, including discussions on health and vaccination certificates. They also discussed cooperating on welcoming the return of Singaporean students to Australia to continue with their studies.
On 2 July 2021 Morrison announced that Australia had decided to halve arrivals into Australian airports, ostensibly to prevent further spread of COVID 19 on the Australian continent. The decision had an immediate adverse effect on Singapore Government owned Singapore Airlines, whose management in reliance of the Morrison Government's encouragement have been flying passengers including Australian citizens to and from Australia.
The joint communique speaks only of going forward with travel arrangements, so it is highly likely that Morrison did not alert Lee to the fact that local politics could cause him to shut Australia's borders, fully or in varying degrees. That danger has always been present given the nature of Australia state versus federal politics, but Morrison seems to have concealed that fact from Lee.
Now instead of opening borders Morrison has effectively shut Australia's borders, and in the process caused Singapore Airlines to suffer loss, and attempted to have Lee deal with Australians stranded in Singapore (see story below).
Joint communiques such as that issued on 12 June 2021 by Morrison and Lee can have legal effect, and it is the deception on Morrison's part that led to the formulation of that communique that could well provide the basis for Singapore to seek compensation from Australia, for among other things costs incurred in keeping Australian citizens and permanent residents in Singapore.
TO BE READ WITH
Australian politicians rely on foreign nations to fund their Zero Covid policy-foreign nations ought to start sending them the bill, and deporting stranded Australian citizens & PRs
NSW and Australian decision to cap arrivals deemed illogical by Australia's own health system numbers, experts: More evidence that Australian politicians expect foreign nations to pay for their electoral advantage
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