The Federal Court has rejected a challenge to the Commonwealth government's extraordinary international travel ban preventing most citizens from leaving the country so that they don't bring COVID-19 home
But the three judges ruled that submission was based on the "erroneous premise that the right is absolute". The judges ruled that that interpretation of the law would frustrate Parliament's clear intentions when lawmakers created the emergency powers in the Biosecurity Act in 2015. "While Europe and most of the world open up their borders, only North Korea and Australia stubbornly continue with strict controls over their citizen's ability to leave their country," Mr Cooper said.
The ABC last week reported its own survey had found 79 per cent of respondents agreed the international border should stay shut until the pandemic was under control globally.