Originally Posted by
Gnadenburg
Cowering entitlement!
Not since the Fall of Singapore in 1942 have so many Australians around the globe been abandoned. Those dark times were compounded by the fact we were at war.
The attitudes of the Australian public to fellow Australians abroad has been a disgrace. Akin to blaming bushfire victims for living in the bush, flood victims for living near rivers. Now, the public hysteria and abandonment of overseas Australians has been turned into political mileage. Distracting politicians and Australians alike, from not only the systemic failure of government in meeting the first challenge of the century ( God help us if war involving near-peer adversaries such as China ) but also the decency on what it took to build this country on the basis of immigration and diversity last century.
There are simple, pragmatic solutions to what we have have faced with a million Australians abroad that don't involve mixing them all up in a failed hotel quarantine system. It is not difficult nor impossible to ensure returning Aussies vaccinated from countries offering such. Look at our top 15 trading partners and at least half would be viable in having returnees vaccinated or at least government sponsored programs. COVID vaccinated and tested returnees pose little risk.
I don't doubt that when Australians start travelling again, the masses with the screw the Aussies abroad and raise the drawbridge attitude, will expect the Australian government to come rescue them and their families from any troubles they may experience. Terrorism, natural disasters or consular support from being "banged up abroad".
Cowering fools and bogans.
Spoken like someone who expects a handout when things go to shyte. I'd love the Government to show
me the same support you expect them to show someone stuck overseas - because so far, I have received exactly $0.00 from CenterLink / JobKeeper / JobSeeker / 'the Government' in support, be it financial or otherwise, despite looking at a 6-figure financial loss due to this. I don't think I am alone in that either...
At the start of the pandemic, we were told there were approximately 30,000-odd Australians registered with DFAT who wanted to come home. Since then, thousands have left and returned, a few multiple times over, and we are
still at or above, that original figure.
Australia has done pretty well in terms of Covid cases, though no doubt it is due to paranoid state leaders raising the drawbridge themselves when there's a sniffle somewhere, but I don't see you arguing against
that mentality to allow the hundreds of thousands of Australian's who
are already in Australia their "right to travel" (or rather, their constitutionally-protected right to not be penalised based on the state in which they live) vs the comparatively few stuck overseas their "right to return home".
The rights of 26,000,000 Australian's to travel freely within their own country without the border bollocks -
or simply to their place of employment outweigh the desire of a few to come home. I'll be quite frank, were I PM, there wouldn't be
any international arrivals until Australia had reached either herd immunity, or the vaccination target. Whether it is international flightcrew passing it on to their transport/hotel workers, or HQ leaks - and I
do agree with you that that system is an abortion - from returning passengers have cost this country tens of billions of dollars. IIRC, the ABC quoted the last Victorian lockdown at $125M
per day, the current Sydney one, $140M
per day!
Reckon that is
truly worth the cost of bringing a few thousand 'stranded' citizens home? I don't think it is...