Originally Posted by
KRviator
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...
What an extraordinary post. Appallingly ignorant of the plight of your "fellow" Australians. Appallingly and fanatically self-righteous, deflecting the blame of incompetent governence on Australians with the misfortune of being caught out abroad.
What do you think Australians stuck overseas receive from the government? I'll tell you what they get. Nothing! You get a bill for a hotel quarantine that often presents more of a chance of catching COVID than the country you have left.
At the start of the pandemic, a panicked Prime Minister told Australians through media and DFAT to stay put if safe and gainfully employed. Despite claims from some Australians 12 months later that expatriates should have come home when they had the chance, this original instruction is overlooked. Why do you think the numbers coming home has swelled? Perhaps because of job losses months after the pandemic began? Economic turmoil was staggered.
When all is said and done, Australia has probably bungled COVID. It's also potentially been exposed, providing a template for coercion and defeat, as aggressive nations see ease of division amongst State governments and even the social fabric of our communities.
Back to your opening line. I expect no financial assistance from government. I will not ever qualify for a government handout. This is typical of many Australians returning home. However, some Australians abroad have lost their livelihoods and have limited resources. Just to simply have a chance to repatriate, it may cost a similar to what you claim COVID to have cost you- six figures wasn't it?
Yours is an indecent and once un-Australian attitude.