On Thursday 5 August a friend—an Australian living in Germany with their American partner—sent me a message with screen-grabs from The Guardian and a single tear-face emoji. They revealed that Minister for Health Greg Hunt had—without announcement—amended the Biosecurity Act to close what has misleadingly been called a ‘loophole’. Australian citizens who normally reside overseas would have to apply for an exemption to be permitted to leave Australia.

The purported aim of the new amendment was ‘assisting vulnerable Australians’. Those who are outside will be deterred from coming in, and if they do could have no option but to remain ‘home’. While others, those with lives and livelihoods overseas who find themselves inside, should better stay put for the good of the country, so for their own good. The ministry’s explanation of its decision is simplistic and careless. The automatic exemption was intended for overseas-residing Australians who found themselves in Australia at the outbreak of COVID-19, they note. By now such people have had ‘substantial time’ (that is, retrospectively applied, one year, four months and 16 days) to return to their countries of residence, and should have done so. They suggest this ‘loophole’ has enabled ‘frequent travel between countries’ and that citizens should have ‘tak[en] action’ to return home by now. It’s remarkable that The Guardian, not the ministry, announced this news, four days after it had been written into law. I wonder how the government thought people would ‘take action’ without knowing anything had changed?