WITH an extension to Australia’s human biosecurity emergency period likely to be handed down mid-next month, Cruise Lines International Association’s (CLIA) focus has shifted to navigating the order, rather than blocking it, with a view to a potential cruise restart from Dec. CLIA Australasia Chair Gavin Smith said at Fri’s...
WITH an extension to Australia’s human biosecurity emergency period likely to be handed down mid-next month, Cruise Lines International Association’s (CLIA) focus has shifted to navigating the order, rather than blocking it, with a view to a potential cruise restart from Dec.
CLIA Australasia Chair Gavin Smith said at Fri’s Cruise Forum (CW 27 Aug) the Association is attempting to negotiate an exemption to the period.
“Since the last extension and the launch of the Australian Government’s four-phase plan, [CLIA Managing Director Australasia Joel Katz] has committed to trying to navigate ourselves into that plan as an industry to interpret how we can have a carefully managed phased return…we think we can do that in Dec,” Smith said.
“When we see that very likely extension in mid-Sep, it could be on a rolling 30-day basis rather than 90 days, or there is an exemption process for cruise lines, or individual ships could apply for exemptions.”
Smith said everyone in the industry had a job to do, and there was no sense in getting distracted by border closures or division based on brand.
“We all have a common goal, which is the return of the industry…we need to sit together now and agree with this framework to restart” he said.
“We’ve got to agree to quarantine issues, crew vaccination, testing, ventilation, isolation, evacuation, health reporting, there are a lot of issues, simple things like mask-wearing, social distancing, load factors, our advocacy is for those discussions to start now.”
Smith said the risks of failing to execute as such on a federal level were ships being deployed elsewhere, and different states starting at different times.
The CLIA Australasia Chair pointed to similar fears expressed by Qantas Airways Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce regarding flights to the United Kingdom having to potentially depart from Darwin due to the difficulty of accessing Western Australia.
Both circumstances put the cruise industry in great jeopardy, Smith warned.
When pressed by the discussion’s moderator, Cruise Weekly’s Bruce Piper, on some of the challenges he had faced since arriving in the role, Smith said getting in front of public health officials on a regular basis to present the industry’s story was of particular difficulty.
CLIA had been well-accustomed to working with government departments, but the Association has faced difficulties in scoring time together with public health, and had brought aboard health experts to help with such.
