Early COVID News
243 Aussie passengers (plus 4 pilots & 14 crew) left Wuhan via QANTAS flight on Monday 3rd February 2020 at 8am (local time).... Flight subsidised by Govt. Will spend up to 14 days in Quarantine on Christmas Island. QANTAS to cover all additional domestic fares.
Update: Christmas Island quarantine lifted Paige Taylor Sunday Feb 16
Australians quarantined on Christmas Island were on Sunday preparing for freedom as the islands temporary quarantine station scaled down.
Not everybody locked inside the Christmas Island detention centre can go home on Monday.
The 242 Australians who arrived from Wuhan on February 3 are scheduled to be delivered to the Christmas Island airport after a short bus tour of local sights — but 36 Australian citizens and permanent residents will stay behind.
The smaller group landed on the Indian Ocean territory 48 hours after the first arrivals, via a rescue flight arranged by the New Zealand government that went first to Auckland.
They can leave on Wednesday if they remain virus-free.
The 24 doctors, nurses and clinicians sent to oversee the quarantining of Australians on Christmas Island were on Sunday packing up gear and a tent hospital in the grounds of the Howard-era immigration detention centre.
The medical group — including a pharmacist and paediatrician — are from the Australian Medical Assistance Team led by Dan Holmes, who described an optimistic mood among evacuees on Sunday. 'Everything is going smoothly,' he said. He indicated the Christmas Island detention centre could be prepared for more quarantine work at short notice pending any decision to send more people. 'AUSMAT are ready whatever we are asked to do,' he said. 'Our tents can be built up in two hours when required.'
The role of Christmas Island as a quarantine station was arranged swiftly and there was uncertainty about whether the island had capacity to receive more evacuees.
Another 266 Australians took a Qantas rescue flight out of Wuhan on February 9 and went to a former resource sector workers camp at Howard Springs, near Darwin.
Economy in 2022
By 2020, Australia was the world's biggest exporter of Iron Ore ($79.6B). Top import was Cars ($13.7B)... Coal Briquettes ($36.4B), Aluminium Oxide ($3.59B), Sheep and Goat Meat ($2.7B), and Wool ($1.58B). Other top exports were Petroleum Gas ($26.8B) and Gold ($17.7B), exporting mostly to China ($102B), Japan ($31.8B), South Korea ($17.2B), United States ($11.6B), and India ($11.3B).
Top imports were Cars ($13.7B), Refined Petroleum ($10.8B), Gold ($6.49B), Broadcasting Equipment ($6.38B), and Computers ($5.76B), importing mostly from China ($57.2B), United States ($24.2B), Japan ($12.2B), Thailand ($10.4B), and Germany ($9.67B).
China is our largest trading partner, but Canberra has invested more on trade diversification in the face of Beijing’s ‘economic coercion’.
Tax Revenue Fed State Local
Total 2021 $593bn GDP $2 trillion
a. GST ABNs 2.4mn 12%
b. Company Tax 19%
c. Personal PAYG 11mn 39%
from 14.7mn returns
d. State (PayrollTax, StampDuty Rego) & Local (Rates) 19%
e. Fed (Customs, Excise, Fuel) 11%
More info