Anne Summers
August 19, 2020

Expats all over the world – me, in New York, among them – are suddenly finding they can no longer call Australia home. And it is a bitter experience.

I can’t tell you how it feels to know that I can’t go home because I am still trying to come to terms with the fact that my country has shut the door in the faces of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of Australians trying to return home from overseas.

Until October 24 arrivals into Australia are limited to the following numbers: Sydney – 350 per day; Perth 525 per week; Brisbane 500 per week; Adelaide 500 per week and Hobart and Melbourne – zero. Canberra and Darwin have to figure out “on a case-by-case basis” how many people they will be allowed to welcome. And Sydney has signalled that 350 a day (already reduced from 450) might be more than the local quarantine system can handle.

I have not yet tried to book a flight myself, but I know from the dozens of anguished stories being shared on special Facebook pages that, with only 30 to 60 passengers allowed per flight, it is virtually impossible to travel economy. Countless Australians are telling of confirmed tickets being cancelled, often for five or six flights stretching into the future, while business or first-class tickets magically become available for the same flights.

Sarah, 35 (who did not want to give her last name) was working in New York until she was fired three weeks ago. She has to return home because her E3 visa is tied to her employment. She emailed me: “I’m now faced with a four-month lease break fee, sky-rocketing airfare home in September, $3K [Australian] in quarantine fee and all the other move costs associated with packing up your life”.

She told me that fares on Qatar Airways have gone “from $US700 [$966] two weeks ago to over $10K this morning”. When I check, Qatar offers only business class to Australia and the fare is currently more than $US15,000 ($20,700) – for a 40-hour flight.

full. https://www.smh.com.au/national/can-we- ... 55n4i.html

WOW. I guess Australia isn't their home anymore. I sure as hell wouldn't consider it that if I were them. Clearly their country is giving them a Big 'Fuck You", so how could they consider it home anymore?

The real problem/question is what are they supposed to do now? Find the biggest available island they can and start a new tiny country? It's not like they can get citizenship anywhere else easily these days. And I thought the US was pretty bad for not getting it's citizens home and letting them get scammed with flights that normally cost $700 being jacked up to $3,000 and then canceled and money kept by the airline. Now I feel "blessed" to have a government that has an "I don't give a shit about you" attitude rather than the Australian "I actively don't want you to be able to come back" attitude. Damn, Australia...

The advice in March was clear: Those who want to return to Australia should do so now. What part of that didn't they understand?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/ ... s/12065050

So everyone should drop what they are doing in March to flee to the supposed safety of the now infected and locked down homeland because the doughty PM gets the vapors in March?
They are running special flights in for Chinese students while their own citizens are denied entry.
There is a FB group for those who can't return
https://www.facebook.com/groups/678772906045295/
Restrictions to entry for citizens is obviously illegal, the ScoMo government will undoubtedly be the target of litigation.
The Australian government is competing with the Balkans in the authoritarian stakes.

Judging by the last corona outbreak in 1918/ 1919 there may be streneous travel regulations world wide well into 2022. It is therefore strange that rich nations like Australia do not have a system in place to make sure that their own people can get home in a cost efficient manor.

Most of the wealthy nations in Europe (not the UK) have put up special charter flights for their own nationals at a cost of $ 700 - 900 from places such as Brasil, Chile, Vietnam and Thailand. Often in cooperation with other countries nearby. Is this a mainly British/ Aussie problem?

I think the decision to return becomes more problematic when you're employment/career is tied to a contract, you're renting, have a young family and the country you are living in is not handling the virus at all well - such as the USA. Yes, too many Australians were having half-way bets and lost, so will have to contend with the consequences - they had no excuse for not returning immediately. However there are some expats who were really put between a rock and a hard place and should be afforded some concessions or sympathy I believe.

Thousands are screwed.
Through no fault of their own.
Not me, of course.
Heartless Australian government.

Presumably it is the combination of both well and potentially sick people all arriving on flights at airports for processing, that had led to the restriction on passenger arrivals. Having thousands of people all queuing at Immigration at the same time, as they used to, would be a disaster.

timmydownawell wrote: ↑Wed Aug 19, 2020 5:45 pm The advice in March was clear: Those who want to return to Australia should do so now. What part of that didn't they understand?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/ ... s/12065050

I don't think it's quite the same - the story from March is the Aussie government telling their citizens to return to Australia ASAP due to countries closing their borders and it becoming more and more difficult to actually make the journey. If I've understood this latest story right, it does talk about the difficulty and cost of making the journey but the kick in the teeth is the Australian government actually closing its borders to its own citizens - something nobody was thinking about back in March, and I'm sure is highly questionable in international law. How can a country deny entry to its own citizens, regardless of the circumstances?