• Newly released data alleging more than 10,000 travellers entered Australia for non essential reasons in April this year has sparked renewed criticism of the Morrison government’s approach to international borders.
• The figures from the Department of Home Affairs, along with ABS figures that show similarly high numbers of arrivals in May, have led to clashes between state and federal governments around borders following new lockdown measures.
• A migration expert told Business Insider Australia the furore reflects frustration around the lack of transparency around migration in the second year of closed Australian borders.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

While over 30,000 Australians remain trapped overseas and the majority of its citizens are unable to leave the country, data published by the Sydney Morning Herald about non essential arrivals and departures has sparked heated debate about how the international border is being managed.

One migration expert says the story, which alleges that more than 10,000 travellers entered Australia to visit friends, go on holiday or for business trips in April, may not accurately reflect the current processes allowing people to travel into the country.

The Department of Home Affairs data obtained by the Herald and The Age was collated from incoming passenger cards designed to capture the main reason for the journey for visitors arriving and residents returning to Australia.

The data suggests that during April, 2226 cards listed the passengers’ reason for arriving as “business, conferences or exhibitions”.

The data reveals 8,067 cards listed “visiting family or friends” and “taking a holiday” as the reason for travel, with employment given as the reason for 5,200 passenger movements, and 817 for education.

These numbers were down from 10,536 in December 2020 when those reasons were listed in the lead up to the Christmas holidays.

The papers said the data excluded travellers from New Zealand, which accounted for many of the 53,872 arrivals recorded in April.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has reiterated in a public statement that “Australia’s borders are closed” and a spokesperson for the Minister has separately said the figures are not an accurate representation of arrivals.

“It is not correct that these are the types of travellers Australia has accepted during the COVID-19 exemption period,” the spokesperson said.

“The data referred to does not reflect the categories under which people are approved to arrive in Australia under the exemption regime.”

The story comes amid increased tensions between the state and federal government over pandemic border closures, as a raft of COVID-19 outbreaks resulted in a return to lockdowns for over 11 million Australians.

Deputy Premier of Queensland Steven Miles said on Wednesday the figures show that the borders are not genuinely closed and that “these travellers are displacing Australians who are genuinely stranded overseas,” a sentiment echoed by Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan who has said the vast majority of people going overseas “shouldn’t have.”

Miles pointed to ABS data showing the number of non-citizens arriving on temporary or permanent visas climbed to 20,000 in May.

The data shows 2400 arrivals were citizens of the UK, 1900 were citizens of China, 1400 were citizens of India, and 1100 were US citizens.

“Thousands of people are being allowed to travel here who are not stranded Aussies,” Miles said.

Deputy Labor leader Kristina Keneally also jumped on the issue, along with other federal politicians. Keneally tweeted that the Prime Minister was “leaving Australians behind” and “letting thousands of non-citizens – tourists and business travellers – enter his leaky hotel quarantine system.”

Henry Sherrell, migration fellow at Grattan Institute, told Business Insider Australia that conversations around ABS data and information from the Department of Home Affairs reveal a lack of clarity around the current processes that allow movement in and out of the country.

“We don’t have much for these conversations [in terms of] objective, clear information,” Sherrell said.

“And so when something like these ABS figures come out, people pounce on it.”

Sherrell said the data currently being published may not accurately reflect the nature of those arrivals and departures.

“The problem with the ABS stats is it’s very aggregate, it’s very high level, and it’s very hard to parse,” he said.

On Thursday the ABS said Miles’ claim it no longer publishes the number of foreigners arriving into Australia was wrong, and the Australian Border Force (ABF) said on average 80% of international arrivals required to quarantine “are Australian citizens, permanent residents or their immediate family”.

“Several reports have been combining international arrivals from New Zealand with arrivals from other countries and making the comparison that this high number is contributing to spread of Covid-19 and the lack of quarantine places for Australians, however this is not the case,” the ABF said in a statement.

Sherrell said the reports could not accurately capture the full details of arrivals.

“The data shows the arrival of citizens and the Sydney Morning Herald article says, ‘Well we stripped out New Zealanders,’” Sherrell said.

“But you could be a British citizen in New Zealand, and on your arrival card you would come up as a citizen of the UK and an inbound arrival from New Zealand.”

“I don’t know how the journalists have done this analysis,” he said, adding “this data is notoriously difficult to get exactly right.”

‘This is a very important policy area’

Sherrell said the statements by state and government highlight that while the numbers of arrivals is “tiny” compared to those pre-COVID, misunderstandings about exemptions to travel caps, including visas that continue to be granted, show the lack of clarity about how migration processes currently occur.

“One thing we can say clearly is we’re 15 months into the pandemic and we still have … not a perfect understanding of exactly how this works,” he said.

“It’s unclear how, if we have 35,000 stranded Australians waiting, they are being prioritised versus other travellers.”

Sherrell said his assumption is that it is hard for the process to remain consistent when dealing with a large volume of specific requests.

“There’s also a lot of discretion for the authorities as opposed to statutory rules that are being followed.”

He said one thing the Australian public have not been made aware of is that there are certain visa classes allowing people to travel to Australia.

Those granted Business Investment visas are not covered by the rules preventing people to come into Australia, as do those with a permanent Global Talent visa.

“Overall I think we’re looking at 11,000 Global Talent visas granted in the 2021 financial year, and about 10% to 30% of those will be granted to those not already in Australia.”

“This stuff is still occurring in the background,” Sherrell said.

In March Business Insider Australia reported that the Morrison government quietly instructed the Department of Home Affairs to begin prioritising investor visas over other types of applicants last year, including foreign workers in critical sectors during the pandemic.

An internal document showed that in August last year, then-Immigration Minister Alan Tudge directed the Department of Home Affairs to prioritise Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) visas over nearly every other type of visa applicant.

Sherell said that at this stage of the pandemic, it was becoming increasingly important for the public to have clarity about movement in and out of the country.

“There should be some accountability for how these decisions are made,” he said.

While it may be completely appropriate that these travellers were granted exemptions and were allowed to enter Australia, we still don’t understand that decision making, Sherrell said.

“This is a very important policy area. And I think that it’s getting the attention that it perhaps didn’t get earlier in the pandemic because we’ve moved onto a new stage.”

“I think with more information it will be easier for people to make sense of what’s going on and how these decisions are being made.”

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