Stranded Aussies long left in limbo
More than 40,000 Australians remain stuck overseas, writes Catryna Bilyk
ONE value Australians hold dear is we never leave a mate behind.
It’s a value we expect our national government to adhere to, particularly when Aussie citizens are stranded overseas and desperate to return home.
This is more than just an Australian value — it is a right enshrined in international human rights law.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “Everyone has the right … to return to his country.” And the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.”
We are a year into the pandemic and there are almost 40,000 Australians registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade who have expressed a wish to return home.
Some have been trying to get home since travel restrictions were introduced in March last year. Australians working overseas were often advised by the government to “stay where you are” when the pandemic hit.
The advice was that if you had a job and were secure, you could stay put until your employment contract finished.
Many Aussies followed that advice, only to find that Scott Morrison had mismanaged the borders so badly, there was no way for them to get home.
The PM promised he would bring stranded Australians home by Christmas — he has broken that promise.
With air tickets to Australia costing $10,000 or more, and Australians having to pay for hotel quarantine on arrival, it is an expensive return.
Sadly, there is little choice for Australians who are trying to survive in a foreign country with no job, no income, and in some cases nowhere to live.
It is hard to imagine the hardships many of these people face, and they get worse as time goes on.
Many of the stranded who have written to me for assistance are struggling, and desperate to get home. They are eating into their savings, relying on the generosity of family and friends, and worried whether they will have jobs or homes on return.
While some repatriation flights have been arranged, it is too little, too late, and these efforts are still hampered by international arrival caps.
The booking system for repatriation flights has been chaotic, with the “first in, first served’’ approach giving no assurance the vulnerable get prioritised.
Flights from the United Kingdom have been sold out in minutes, meaning people have to constantly check their email to have the slightest chance of securing a ticket.
Australians understand and appreciate that getting thousands of people home in the midst of a pandemic is a logistic challenge. But that does not excuse the Morrison government’s failure, because there is more they could do.
That’s not just the opinion of average Australians — the government commissioned a report by senior bureaucrat Jane Halton that recommended opening federal quarantine facilities in remote locations.
Not only would remote facilities increase the number of people able to arrive in Australia, it would also reduce the risk of virus outbreaks from hotel quarantine facilities in our capital cities.
The government has responsibility for national border security, including biosecurity, yet has been happy to handball this to the states and territories.
If Mr Morrison had created a national border security quarantine plan, when Ms Halton advised him to, it could have avoided the need to cut international flight caps in half and the 40,000 stranded Aussies could be home.
Ms Halton’s report provides sound advice that is being ignored. It’s the attitude we have come to expect from a government whose ministers are happy to turn up when there’s a photo to be taken, but duck for cover when it comes to difficult tasks. It’s the buckpassing we have come to expect from the PM.