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While Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia MD Joel Katz said he was “naturally disappointed” that the Government has extended its ban on cruise ships in Australian waters until 17 June, he also said was not unexpected.

The three-month extension of the biosecurity emergency arrangements was announced last week by the Federal Minister for Health Greg Hunt, who said, that the Australian Health Protection Advisory Committee (AHPPC) had recommended the “COVID-19 situation overseas continues to pose an unacceptable public health risk to Australia, including the emergence of more highly transmissible variants”.

While the extension of the ban means large cruise ships have once again been banned from Australian waters, now for a total of 15 months, Minister Hunt did say on a much more positive note than previously, that the Government continues to work with the cruise industry and other authorities to “develop a framework for the staged resumption of cruise ships in a manner that is proportionate to the public health risk”.

Mr Katz said the CLAI and the industry had been working very closely with the Government on a high-level framework for the restart of domestic operations for more than six months now, adding that despite the disappointment at a lack of an outcome so far, CLIA “remains committed to working with agencies at a federal and state level,” he said, with the industry supporting over 18,000 jobs including travel agents, farmers, entertainers, tour operators, ports & marine services.

Mr Katz also said that the Minister’s statement also noted that the ongoing emergency determinations, which include restrictions on the entry of cruise vessels within Australian territory, “can be amended or repealed if no longer needed”, which is a very positive sign that the Government has and is listening to the CLIA and the industry with the required operating protocols well advanced with the resumption of large ship cruising, at least domestic cruising for larger ships not far away.

I took the opportunity to have a chat with Joel Katz and to hear what he had so say about the announcement and the resumption of large and also smaller vessels currently already operating in Australia CLICK HERE or on the image below.

 

A report by John Alwyn-Jones