Memo to the prime minister: speak less, lead more

If that statement was true, why did Italy lockdown an entire republic, greatly curtailing the movement of Italians both within and without its borders? Why did Indonesia refuse entry to the MV Viking Sun,a cruise ship, even though no cases of COVID-19 were reported on board? Why did the City of San Francisco do likewise? Why does the United States Department of State recommend against cruise travel?

Politicians and their health experts claim all is being done to safeguard the homeland. But is it, really? Putting aside those from the PRC, Korea and Iran, our borders are as wide open to overseas visitors as the doors of a brothel are to all but the patently inebriated.

Nearly 100 countries are burdened with COVID-19 sufferers. Apart from airlines, airport owners,hotel proprietors, tour operators and restaurants, just who benefits from the multiple daily flights from Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, the UAE (the key transit point for European tourists flying to Australia with Qantas, Emiratesand Etihad) allowed to land at Australian airports?

Also from the Arabian Gulf, one of the finest, if not the finest, airlines around, Qatar Airways carries who know how many diseased Europeans to Australia daily from its hub in Doha, Qatar, where there are no less 320 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

On the weekend Poland bolted its doors to foreigners and now requires 14 days of self quarantine for its own arriving nationals. New Zealand chimed in too, requiring all arrivals to self isolate for 14 days, including NZ passport holders. South Pacific Islanders are exempted from this policy given they have no confirmed cases of COVID-19. One can only wonder if "no confirmed cases" is more a result of insufficient or ineffective screening of South Pacific islanders than a testament to the islanders' robust health.

Job #1 for Scott Morrison is to contain the spread of COVID-19 and minimise the number of new cases. A fact the tourism lobby and perhaps politicians do not want aired is that no arriving tourist lowers the disease risk profile for the Australian population. Some tourists may bring evidence of COVID-19 with them, while others may by symptomatic only after arriving.

How many Australians will they infect once within our borders?

Just who are we kidding that those ill tourists will self quarantine?

Is anyone tasked with monitoring the self quarantined?

We have seen inNSW and Tasmania that Australians told to self quarantine have flouted those instructions and infected who knows how many? We have seen conferences, schools, doctors' surgeries and nursing homes infected. Soon we will see backpackers' lodges, hotels, cinemas, tourist sites, shopping malls, cafes and churches succumb to the disease. France closed countless cafes and restaurants on the weekend.

Australia's public health officials looking for the contacts of an infected individual to see if he or she is infected and then checking the contacts of the contacts to verify if they are infected is to be applauded. Butthis is a labour intensive process whose job is made much harder when more potential carriers of the virus fly into Australia's airports. Think of ASIO expending treasure to monitor countless unsavoury individuals domestically, only to be challenged by having that job exacerbated exponentially with say Da'esh terrorists and their families, in their hundreds or even in their tens, returning to Australia. All of whom should, in the interest of public safety, be monitored. But there are constraints on ASIO: budgets and staff. Surely it's safer for the Australian community and makes ASIO's intelligence officers' jobs easier if those currently in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq or Turkey, remain there and keep well away from our borders.

The Commonwealth's effort to vanquish the pandemic must however not be limited to non-Australians. While Australians are discouraged from travelling overseas, they are not prohibited from doing so. Just how many Australian travellers will say, return with the virus, regardless of whether they are symptomatic or not when they traverse SmartGate at Kingsford Smith and Tullamarine? Surely the timehas come to not only hit the "pause" button on inbound tourism by advising tourists that their stay in Australia will begin with 14 days of quarantine on arrival, but to also inform Australians jetting overseas that if they are travelling for say 14 days or less, that on their return to Australia, they too will be subjected to mandatory quarantine as guests of the Commonwealth?