The NSW taxpayer will no longer foot the entire bill for returning Australians in hotel quarantine, with arrivals from Saturday to be charged up to $3000 each.
From Saturday, for all arrivals on tickets bought from midnight Monday, the first adult in each travelling party will be charged $3000.
Subsequent adults will be billed $1000, each child $500 while kids under three will continue to be free.
It means a family of two adults and three school-aged kids could face a $5500 bill.
"This, we believe, is fair," Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Sunday.
"Australian residents overseas have had three or four months to think about what they want to do ... to make decisions about what is best for them."
The fee, payable within 30 days of the end of the fortnight stay, will cover also daily meals.
Exemptions will be permitted in some circumstances and hardship arrangements will be available.
Those who fly in on tickets bought before midnight Monday will still need to stay in quarantine for two weeks and will need to prove when they purchased their ticket.
Though NSW has now restricted the number of daily arrivals to 450, Ms Berejiklian said more than 35,000 people had been processed since March 29 at a cost of $65 million.
Stuart Ayres, the NSW minister responsible for hotel quarantine, said housing large numbers of international travellers returning to Australia posed a major logistical challenge.
"(It) has been our front line in the defence against COVID 19," he told reporters on Sunday.
"We need to make sure that hotel (policy) stays on a sustainable footing."
Australian Associated Press
