Vicki Thompson, CEO of the Group of Eight, said that the national cabinet needs to provide the threshold that international students must meet before returning to Australia. Ms. Thompson told Sky News that although South Australia and some other states have established plans to bring back international students, so far, the Northern Territory is the only place to bring some people back to the country. She said: “What we really seek in the federal government and the national cabinet process is what thresholds you need to meet before we can safely rebuild the border.” Ms. Thompson said that before the federal government considers reopening, the government needs to clarify how much it wants. What are the vaccinations for Australians and the isolation requirements for international students? “We know that there is a problem with hotel quarantine… Eight-eighths of the universities we provide in the entire group use our accommodation for quarantine,” she said. “This is inappropriate. We accepted this suggestion. So what is the isolation requirement? [so] Can we do this in a safe and reliable way? “And I think this is the really missing piece of the puzzle in the discussion.”
