Returning Aussies should pay for hotel quarantine: Finance Minister

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JULY 07: Passengers arrive in the baggage reclaim hall at Sydney Airport on one of the last flights out of Melbourne to Sydney on July 07, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. The NSW-Victoria border will close at 11:59pm on Tuesday evening due to a large spike in COVID-19 cases in Victoria. It is the first time in 100 years the border between the two states has been closed, and comes after Victoria recorded its highest-ever daily increase in cases, 127, since the start of the pandemic on Monday, along with the deaths of two Victorian men. From 12:01 Wednesday 8 July, NSW residents returning from Victoria will need to self isolate for 14 days. Special provisions will be in place for border communities such as Albury-Wodonga as well as freight operations and other critical services. (Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images)

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has backed making Australians returning from overseas pay for their two-week hotel quarantine stay.

Taxpayers have been picking up the bill for people's stint in hotels since the regime was introduced to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

But Senator Cormann, who is helping put together a federal budget update, believes it's time for people to pay their own way.

"There is absolutely a strong argument that on an ongoing basis, as we need to continue to manage the risk of people bringing infections in from overseas, that that is managed at people's own expense," he told Sky News on Friday.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is expected to announce hotel charges for returned travellers in coming days.

Other states are also weighing up similar arrangements, given Australians were first urged to return home four months ago.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will propose a cap on international arrivals to ease pressure on the quarantine system at Friday's national cabinet meeting.

State premiers have called for a reduction in flights, with Melbourne out of action while it deals with a troubling coronavirus outbreak

Immigration Minister Alan Tudge said citizens and permanent residents would retain the right to return to Australia.

"You're an Aussie, you're entitled to come back to your home country," he told the Nine Network on Friday.

He said the NSW government had indicated around 450 people a day would be its preferred limit, while WA wants fewer numbers.

Between June 7 and July 7 there were 28,069 international arrivals.

Victoria recorded 165 of Australia's 182 new cases of the disease on Thursday, with the source of 135 under investigation.

Dealing with the spike in cases is top of national cabinet's agenda.

State and territory leaders will also discuss a snap review of hotel quarantine arrangements.

Health officials have examined the issue after the outbreak in Melbourne was linked to infection control breaches among hotel security.

But senior Morrison government figures have been careful not to blame Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews for the disastrous bungle.

Mr Tudge said supporting Victoria to get on top of the crisis as quickly as possible was crucial to solving the outbreak.

"It is not useful for me as federal minister to enter into a blame game," the Melbourne-based MP told the Nine Network on Friday.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles said a judicial inquiry into the issue would get to the bottom of who was to blame.

"Somebody getting sacked is not going to make anyone get better. It's not going to make any business come back," he said.