Scott Morrison defends George Brandis’s Queensland holiday
Australia’s leading diplomat to the UK took a vacation to Queensland while lots of expat Aussies were pleading his workplace for assistance to get house.
High Commissioner to the UK George Brandis was supported by the Prime Minister after 7 News exposed Mr Brandis had actually left the UK at the peak of that nation’s COVID-19 crisis to vacation on the Sunshine Coast.
“I’ll just simply give you the facts: He came back for meetings here in Australia, like many other heads of mission. He did not take the place of any other Australian,” Scott Morrison informed press reporters on Monday.
“He’s an Australian and he spent some time with his family in his home state while he was here.”
Mr Morrison stated he ‘d met Mr Brandis throughout the diplomat’s time in Australia.
The High Commission, a Commonwealth equivalent of an embassy, is the Australian federal government’s point of contact for Aussies living in the UK.
That’s where Australians have actually turned for assistance going to house throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Brandis, a previous attorney-general and Liberal senator for Queensland, gotten here in Australia in November and carried out a fortnight’s quarantine prior to taking a trip for conferences in Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane, a representative informed 7 News.
“He then, in accordance with DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs guidelines, took a short period of annual leave, which was spent at his home in Queensland, before returning to the United Kingdom,” the representative stated.
In a photo released by 7 News, Mr Brandis is seen being in an airport using casual clothing.
Other high commissioners and ambassadors likewise took a trip to Australia over Christmas, according to the news channel.
Arrival caps for individuals returning from the UK have actually been slashed because a mutant stress of COVID started running widespread in the nation.
With more than 100,000 Aussies living there, the pressure on regional consulate personnel has actually installed as individuals look for methods to go to house in spite of the limitations.
On New Year’s Eve, the High Commission in the UK cancelled all passport consultations up until more notification, mentioning “the significant increase in COVID related cases in the United Kingdom and the national lockdown”.
