Criticism and confusion over the federal government’s India flights suspension has grown this morning after comments made by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison was repeatedly asked on The Today Show whether the government plans to penalise Australians fleeing India.

But Mr Morrison insisted it is ‘highly unlikely’ jail time will be imposed, despite having previously brandished the policy.

“I think there’s a bit of backtracking going on here with this policy at the moment,” said Neil Breen.

Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge told Neil Breen Australians can still return through other countries.

“The decision was made on the basis of the expert advice, [we] put in place this law to prevent people from coming in directly from India into Australia, without having been somewhere else for 14 days before coming in.

“It’s a temporary pause, a two week pause, … and that was just to give a bit of a breather to our quarantine system, which was starting to feel a strain because so many people were coming in from India carrying the virus.”

Press PLAY below to hear the full interview