The Cruel Reality of our Border Restrictions
reddit.com/gallery/pm0lfvPosted Sep 11, 2021, 4:24 AM UTC
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This whole narrative of blaming state leaders for people being stuck overseas is sickening. The states have done their bit for way too long.
This is a federal responsibility and they have done nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Don't blame people who have done something when it's not their responsibility.
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These are just regularly people right? You should censor their full names.
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If the government could manipulate this for good pr they would be here tomorrow.
Funny how 3500 Afghans managed to leave Kabul and get to Australia within a week.
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Yup! Im very happy we've rescued those people and have no objection. But I'm also fully aware that it shows what the Fed gov can do...If and when they give a shit!
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I experienced this bullshit first hand. The stress from being told multiple times at the last minute that you can’t get home is soul destroying. I was going to be left as a single woman in her 20s with no accomodation, work, visa, health insurance etc in Saudi Arabia for god knows how long. Embassies do nothing. Luckily I was able to speak to someone at one airline who actually felt for me and was able to put me back on a flight.
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It was only a matter of time, after demonising foreigners migrating to Australia, that they would turn on Australians returning to Australia.
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If you dont mind me asking. Im really not trying to have a dig.
But Im curious how long ago you left Australia and when you started trying to come home?
A lot these stories of being stuck outside of Australia dont really include details about why people didnt come home at the beginning of the pandemic. So Im always really curious to understand peoples unique situations.
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I understand all of that. But we’re really not hearing a lot of first hand accounts. Its a lot of “there are x many people unable to return”.
Which is why I was curious.
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I had been living/working overseas for 4yrs when Covid hit. It was literally overnight that the boarders where I was closed. No flights in or out. The embassy had only a small handful of repatriation flights and they stopped after a month or so. I’m a teacher so was in the middle of my school term. If I were to leave I’d lose my job, be breaking my contract and a good sum of money for my end of service payout. Not to mention the time it takes to relocate/move when you’re in a completely different area of the world. There was also a sense of not knowing exactly what was the right thing to do at the time.
After repatriation flights stopped your only chance was to get one of the very limited flights on a commercial airline. These were sold out months and months in advance.
Edit: I managed to actually board a flight out of there in Dec 2020.
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I understand your hesitation to return because of your contract.
The Australian government had already told Australian citizens to return asap in the middle of March because they would be closing the borders. And the writing was on the wall for a long time before that. SA had a lot of cases by then and we’d long closed the border to flights from China. So it wasnt really overnight, but I can imagine it felt sudden.
Im glad you got back and arnt still stuck.
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The boarders of the country I was stuck in closed essentially overnight. Flights both in and out of the country. Much quicker than Australia had
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During the time Australia was saying we should get home our boarders overseas had already closed
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There can be a whole bunch of reasons. Some people for example are on spouse visas overseas. If the marriage ends - the person can no longer legally stay in the country. Not everyone can predict how long relationships last vs how long a pandemic would last ...
Plus for the most part, if you leave the country you're living in, you're only allowed to be out of the country 90 days in a row maximum at any time or else they cancel your visa and you can't return at all.
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The people that champion continued border closures are selfish, despicable cretins.
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Exactly.
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Thanks gladys hahahahha what
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Surely the other states picked up the slack right ahhaha
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I had a luckier experience with this. Got my flight from Chicago-Doha-Sydney in May bumped, decided to cancel the booking and have a crack at another flight and ended up with LAX-Sydney and that was heaps ahead of the bumped flight.
Heart goes out to all those stranded, not bloody fair.
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I mean at least you are allowed to go back home
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These exorbitant airfares should be billable to whoever didn’t buy enough vaccines, not these innocent Australians.
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It's gonna change in three months.
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It won’t until the election has been and gone as I can guarantee no one caught up in this shitshow will be voting LNP
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It was cruel before, now it's senselessly cruel. So many upcoming flights to Sydney in those screenshots. There is NO reason those people couldn't be doing some form of home quarantine.
Home quarantine should have been implemented the day Gladys cut the cap even further to 750, not at an unspecified point some time in the next few months.
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What I hate the most is there are still a lot of people on internet would say “why these people are still overseas? They should come back back in 2020 March! It is their fault.”
No, it isn’t.
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Warmer weather
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Damn. I don’t understand why Gladys has completely given up on controlling covid in her state, yet won’t bring back as many people as possible? It’s like picking the worst middle ground she could find.
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Iirc, the reason given was that health workers supporting hotel quarantine were needed elsewhere
E: here it is: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7409348/nsw-plans-to-halve-international-arrivals/
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Nsw is still taking more than other states.
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It's not her call. It's Scott Morrison's call. He recently annouced he will open borders at some point in the future. But he's backing his decision and also said that the border closures save lives.
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Yeah she should ban all arrivals like our hero dan did.
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As much as this is distressing to read, there must also be people who are getting in on those flights who are not reporting their experiences.
I should also point out that this isn't something caused by Gladys, as incompetent as her response has been, this is squarely laid at the feet of the federal government who is responsible for quarantine facilities which 18 months in still don't exist beyond poor city based hotels not fit for purpose.
Outrage should be directed at the Liberal Party in charge of this fiasco.
State governments are in charge of the decision to mandate 14 days of hotel quarantine, not the federal government.
Quarantine is a federal responsibility, alongside border security.
Sure, the states are running hq, but the Feds could change the arrangements any time they wanted.
If they could have stepped in and done something, or anything, about 18 months ago that would have been great.
I don't hold a
single person accountable mate.
Quarantine is not a federal responsibility. Quarantine is a concurrent federal power (scroll down).
Which is not to say the federal government haven't dropped the ball -- ideally quarantine would be funded by the feds but run by the states as they have all the facilities and health delivery apparatus. But to say it is a federal responsibility is incorrect, even if often repeated.
It sure as fuck isn't a solely state responsibility though, and that's how the feds have acted.
But the requirement for 14 days is a state policy. They chose to go against the federal plan and take the power, they therefor take the responsibility with it.
Unless you’re arguing that the states have no right to in quarantine.
hang on you're making too much sense, cognitive dissonance detected, better downvote you.
sweet dopamine release ahhh.