Originally Posted by
blubak
Unfortunately for the people who want to come home the rules are the rules as suggested,its not a matter of being self righteous or having a dont care attitude towards the people stranded,its really now a matter of managing & protecting what we have without going the high risk scenario.
There are always going to be people who get caught up in a border closure issue & reality now is nothing is going to change whilst the overseas issues compound day by day.
I’ll agree with you on one thing, there’s no need to “sell” any requirements to returning Australians. We all understand quarantine is required. We can all accept the fact it now costs $$$ as well. So requiring extra testing before departure is no big deal. If you want to come home, you’ll do what’s required.
However......
The problem lies with the way the system was brought in and now continues to operate:
- The short notice given for the initial application of the cap created a HUGE backlog of people that were continuously bumped off flights multiple times for months and months. I can accept this is a short term stress to deal with to create a long term solution. BUT what I don’t expect is to see the same issue being created 6 months later.
- Now the cap has been in place for a while with relatively stable numbers, bookings have stabilised and it’s pretty rare to be bumped off a flight.
- So then the REDUCTION in the cap has done the same thing as the initial introduction of the cap. Anyone unfortunate enough to be arriving in Australia in the next 4 weeks is no facing the risk they’ll loose their booking.
In fact on one of the FB groups I follow a lady had just that experience. And guess when she was offered an alternative flight???
MAY!!! 🤦♂️🤦♂️
So now after almost a year of dealing with COVID we find Australians stranded overseas without jobs, money, accommodation, visas, etc and facing the prospect of waiting months for their rebooked flight. All because of a poorly thought out, knee jerk policy change.
So you can say “it’s not about having a don’t care attitude” all you like. But the policy as it currently stands does exactly that. It looks “good enough” to those of you on the correct side of the border, but continues to give the middle finger to those of us on the wrong side.
The Australian quarantine system could be so much better. Both for its main purpose (keeping the virus out) and for the reason it exists (to allow access to Australia). There is two levels of government to blame for that.
The one thing I’m sick and tired of reading, is how it’s the fault of the people that have to use it. AUSTRALIAN CITIZENS TRYING TO COME HOME!!!!