From the BBC:
“Australians stuck overseas
'abandoned' by their own country”
Australian citizen Mandeep Sharma
has been deserted by his government. He is one of the 9,000 Australians
stranded in India, left to fend for themselves after Canberra this week banned
all flights from the Covid-ravaged nation until mid-May. Mr Sharma has a wife
and two daughters in Adelaide. He travelled to India last month to attend his
father's funeral and was due to fly back next week. Now he fears contracting
the virus and being separated from his family indefinitely.
On Saturday, Australia also
announced it would jail anyone who attempts to return from India. For people
like Mr Sharma, trying to get home is now a criminal act - punishable by five
years jail or an A$66,000 (£36,800; $51,000) fine. It's just the latest
hardline action taken by the government to keep the virus out of the country.
Australia has enjoyed near zero- infection rates and recorded just 910 deaths -
far fewer than most other nations. It attributes its virus success to its strict
border controls and quarantine measures. But these have also locked out
thousands of Australians from returning home over the course of the pandemic. The
India ban also marks an extraordinary escalation - the first time the country
has made it a crime for its own citizens to return home.
Why can't citizens get in? Australia
was one of the first nations to close its borders in March 2020, barring all
arrivals except returning nationals, residents, and people granted exemptions
(including celebrities, sports stars and contract workers). Since October 2020,
it has also allowed travellers from virus-free New Zealand. All arrivals
are forced to undertake - and fund - a two week quarantine stay at at a hotel,
typically in a state capital city. Currently, around 36,000 nationals
are registered for government help to fly home, a level that has remained
consistent over the past year. Prior to the pandemic, there were estimated to
be about one million Australians living overseas. Early on in the
quarantine programme, a problem emerged. The number of people returning home -
mostly from New Zealand, the US and the UK - threatened to overwhelm the
system. There were only so many hotel rooms available. So the government
looked for a solution. Instead of expanding the system - for example, adding a
purpose-built quarantine centre - authorities drastically cut back the number
of plane arrivals allowed in each week.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison
initially sold the "travel caps" as a temporary limit. But the cap
has become a permanent fixture. Currently about 7,000 people are allowed in
each week. But the level can be reduced at any time - causing flight
cancellations and route changes. In January, it was halved due to community
outbreaks and virus mutations. Many stranded Australians say they would be
happy if they felt like they were joining an ordered queue to get home. But the
system has proven chaotic and arbitrary, and lacks measures to prioritise those
most in need.
Who has been allowed in: Melissa
McCarthy, Chris Pratt, Tom Hanks, Awkwafina, Idris Elba, Tilda Swinton, Julia
Roberts, Zac Efron, Ed Sheeran, Matt Damon, Natalie Portman, Sacha Baron Cohen,
Paul Mescal, Mark Wahlberg, Tessa Thompson, Rita Ora
Celebrity rush exposes
Australian 'double standard' That means who gets to go home essentially
comes down to the commercial airlines. The limit on arrivals into Australia has
driven up airfares, pushing them out of reach for many. It has led to
the current situation, where less than half of those arriving in Australia in
February were citizens. The government has organised a number of
repatriation flights, but getting a seat is highly competitive. They're also
not free.
Is hotel quarantine adequate? Increasingly,
no. Since the more infectious UK variant arrived in Australia, it's tested the
quarantine system. Perth endured a three-day lockdown last week after
the virus leaked out of one of the hotels. This marked the seventh time since
November that an Australian city has plunged into a snap lockdown due to a
quarantine leak. In the past six months, Australia has seen 16 breaches
of its hotel quarantine system as more infectious strains have come in.
Breaches include transmission between travellers in separate rooms, and infections
passed onto workers. Despite efforts to fix hotel quarantine, including
improving air circulation and safety protocols, the virus keeps getting out.
Why a 'world-class' quarantine
has seen failures Still, the 16 breaches are few compared to the system's
overall success. More than half a million people have been processed through
hotel quarantine, says Mr Morrison. But each breach is a risk to the
community, and the recent examples have sparked alarm about the suitability of
quarantining people in city hotels.
How could quarantine be
improved? Critics have demanded a system overhaul to allow more Australians
to come home. State governments, tired of having to plunge cities into
lockdown, have called for federal government to help build more appropriate
facilities. Experts have consistently suggested that travellers be moved
out of city hotels and into purpose-built centres in regional areas. Many
point to the success of the Howard Springs centre, a refurbished mining camp
near Darwin. Instead of people being quarantined in cramped hotel rooms with
shared corridors, they stay in single-unit houses with outdoor spaces. The
centre will be expanded from 800 beds to 2,000 next week. On Thursday,
the state of Victoria announced it would begin work on designing a similar
facility because "we need options that we can take up to make the
community safer". "It is clear the virus will be with us for
some time," said Acting Premier James Merlino, who also mentioned
Australia's delayed vaccine rollout. But the new quarantine centre will
need federal buy-in. He called on Canberra to stump up the A$100m (£56m; $78m)
investment needed to build the centre by the end of the year. Experts
have also suggested the alternative of home quarantine, which has been a
success in places like Taiwan and Singapore.
Will the system change? As
the plight of stranded Australians stretches on, calls for change are
increasing. The India ban and criminalisation of returning citizens has
also sparked alarm and outrage. Many have raised human rights criticisms. But
many who've been stuck overseas for months believe their pleas will be ignored.
Polling throughout the pandemic has shown broad support among Australians
at home for keeping the borders shut. And when community fear has been
highest, during quarantine outbreaks and lockdowns, there have even been public
debates about blocking Australians from returning altogether. In those
periods, such as in Western Australia's recent lockdown, politicians have also
sought to attribute blame to individuals, rather than scrutinise the faults of
quarantine. For people like Mr Sharma, who travelled to India to mourn
his father's death, the lack of compassion and community solidarity is
dispiriting. "It's really devastating to see when people on social
media say: 'Just let them stay there'. What kind of thing is that to say about
a fellow Australian?"
^ No country should be allowed to
ban their own citizens from returning home. That is when the country has gone
from a stable Democracy to an unstable Dictatorship. I can understand enforcing
a very strict quarantine (one a Military Base or Guarded Hotel) and even putting
foot trackers on the returning citizens before they are allowed off the plane.
I can not understand banning your own citizens. The true test of a country, it’s
government and its’ people is how they handle an emergency. Apparently, the Australian
Government prefers rich, foreign celebrities over Australian Citizens. Australia
is completely in the wrong by doing this and the world and history will judge
them harshly because of it. ^
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