Scomo the hero, keeping Australians safe:Prime Minister Scott Morrison hasdefended his decision to suspend travel from India , calling claims he hasblood on his hands "absurd'.
Speaking with Today, Mr Morrison said his priority was keeping Australia safe andpreventing a third outbreak of coronavirus.
Australia currently has a biosecurityact in place which means anyone who breaches travel rules by returning fromcoronavirus-affected India could be jailed or fined.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison defended the India ban on Today. (Nine)
Today host Karl Stefanovic suggested"threatening your own people with jail and huge fines" was a problem.Mr Morrison said no one had been jailed and it was unlikely anyone would.
"No one has gone to jail," MrMorrison replied.
"I think the likelihood ofanything like that occurring is pretty much zero."
Stefanovic later asked: "So you'resaying no-one will go to jail or be fined is that right?"
Mr Morrison replied: "I think it'shighly unlikely. Highly unlikely. In the same way that these powers at theirmost extreme end have not been used for those sorts of sanctions in the entiretime we've had these biosecurity regulations in place. So, I think people needto look at this in perspective."
Mr Morrison reiterated that keeping thecountry safe was his priority.
"I'm not going to fail Australia.I'm going to protect our borders at this time," Mr Morrison said.
"We will use the measures we haveavailable. We will use them compassionately and fairly and responsibly as wehave demonstrated more than a year with these sorts of penalties and fineswhich have already been in place to protect Australia.
"If we didn't do this it wouldseriously jeopardise our ability to do that over the longer term. So, we'reacting now to ensure that we can do more over a longer period of time for thosewho remain in India."
Mr Morrison said it was a difficultdecision to make and acknowledged his government would be criticised.
"There have been a lot ofdifficult decisions during COVID and people will criticise me and my governmentfor it," Mr Morrison said.
"Australians are living in a waylike very few in the world today and there's a reason for that. It's becausethe government has shown the resilience and has shown the foresightedness tomake these decisions."
Mr Morrison said the decision onwhether anyone would be fined or charged for returning to Australia wouldremain with border officials.
