The federal government has backflipped on its campaign to get Australians cruising by Christmas, forcing the cancellation of 16 cruises scheduled until February 2022.

Cruising expert and travel agent Richard Davey is adamant cruise ships “are the safest place we can be”, telling Joe Hildebrand the government needs to acknowledge the industry’s stringent hygiene, testing and vaccination requirements.

“They’re probably even afraid that it’s going to embarrass them: ships are so safe.

“The statistics are there; you’ve got 500,000 [who] have cruised out of Singapore in the last year, and they’ve had one single case.”

Joe Hildebrand condemned the Australian government for “effectively burning” $10 billion of economic value.

“Is it Chicken Little complex, is it red tape, is it … the false idol of elimination?”

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