I always wonder about this 50000 people who are trying to get home. The number has never changed. But at Perth airport alone, more than 60000 people have passed through since the pandemic began. I don’t know what the numbers for the other states… but the total would far exceed 50000. I can’t figure out why the number never changes.. there are always 50000 people waiting to get home.
For contrast, New Zealand currently conducts what is in effect a lottery for Hotel Quarantine (we call in Managed Isolation & Quarantine, "MIQ").
That system has released between 3,000 and 4,000 places each fortnight or so, and every time so far there has been around 30,000 entries (i.e. "lottery tickets" bought). One in ten may not be bad odds for a lottery where you're hoping to win some / lotsa money, but it's pretty depressing when it's your chances of getting home to share Grandma's 90th birthday.
Seeing as how Australia has about five times the population of NZ, the estimate of 50,000 expatriate Aussies wanting to come home seems pretty low, actually