#strandedaussies

[strandedaustralian]

Another celebrity misuses their privilege to gain access to Australia, while there are still thousands of Australian citizens stranded across the world and separated from their loved ones, their parents, and their children.

Neil Patrick Harris is only the most recent in a long line of celebrities and sports people who have been able to circumvent Australia’s “impassable” borders. Also included are Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Alan Cummings, Zac and Dylan Efron, Rita Ora, 1200 tennis players and their entourages, Natalie Portman AND her parents, Ed Sheeran - just to name a few.

When the Australian Government says the borders are closed, they mean that they are only closed to the average person. Those with privilege, with wealth, with status can come in and out of the country as they please. All while stranded Australians continue to be bumped off flights that cost exorbitant amounts of money, all while partners and family members are applying up to 70 times for an exemption to enter Australia to be with their loved ones, all while those inside Australia are unable to leave.

How is this fair? One rule for the rich, and one for the average. And perhaps what hurts more is that not a SINGLE one of these celebrities and sports people has spoken up about stranded Australians or the border issues. They use their privilege to benefit themselves and then they continue about their lives unaffected. I don’t know about you, but just because someone can kick around a ball well or is a decent singer, that doesn’t mean that they get more human rights than the rest of us, or that their lives are worth more than the rest of us.

Things could have changed by now if people with power and privilege had spoken up about the human rights violations of the Australian Government. But celebrities are too busy benefiting from the current arrangement to do anything. And so we continue, 15 months now into stripping the rights of the average Australian citizen. We may not have power in our voices, but we continue to fight. Please speak out and fight with us.

#himym #australia #perth #covid19 #coronavirus #melbourne #sydney #brisbane #hobart #darwin #canberra #auspol #politics #humanrights #travel #neil patrick harris #strandedaussies #adelaide #ed sheeran #natalie portman #thor #marvel #efron #australian open #tennis #julia roberts #george clooney #alan cummings #rita ora #doogie howser

[thejosh1980]

Travel Update # 18 - Day 8

Originally posted on Tuesday 15th September 2020

Tuesday… 1 week to go…

I actually started this update yesterday, however, I was distracted by phone calls during the day from friends and family, and didn't finishing writing until this afternoon.

It’s amazing how just a call from someone can brighten your day, especially from folks who call you out of the blue… Thank you everyone for your love, support and donations.

This morning the jet lag got to me again… I don’t have a problem with falling asleep, by 21:00 each evening I’m starting to nod off, but every 2nd morning I’m awake before dawn.

Alexannehas been getting into the TV series Kath and Kim!!! Also Spicks and Specks is a fav! She’s integrating nicely!! She also ate a meat pie and a custard tart. Things are good.

We did get a little snappy with each other the past couple of days. Well, maybe one could say I get a bit snappy. Thankfully, Alex has a lot of patience. But it is tough when you just can’t have any space… We are quite used to a different (pre-COVID) lifestyle - work and touring - let alone quarantine 24/7 in a 32m2 hotel room!!! A few couples I have spoken to, said they couldn’t imagine handling this situation well with their partner either, and in a way that makes me feel calmer. I feel OK with not feeling OK (sometimes).

In all fairness, it’s been super stressful for months. Putting it as simply as I can: Lockdown, packing up our lives to move half way around the world, delayed flights, limbo and now quarantine.

Honestly, stress can get to you really quickly and easily in here. Small things jump out at you. In the end we are trying to use humour to get us over the bad moments (did anyone see the jumping on the bed in my story yesterday??).

Yesterday I contacted the hotel (via the Quarantine FB group they have set up) to ask about using the park that is right outside the hotel. It’s fenced off, no one uses it. It would do many folks the world of good to get fresh air and a little exercise. About a quarter of the rooms have balconies, everyone else “enjoys" air con 24/7, with windows that don’t open.There are a lot of folks here in stuffy rooms with no direct sunlight or view.

The hotel responded that it’s a Government decision if we are allowed outside or not.

Tasmania and the Northern Territory offer time outside, they, like South Australia, have no COVID cases. NZ also allow those in quarantine to get out and about too. Why can’t SA??

Today I wrote to the State Health Minister giving him some feedback and requesting they consider allowing access to the park. If he responds I’ll let you know.

(By the way, our hotel is doing a fantastic job at trying to help us any way they can. They would love to let us out to play...)

We do our daily health checks on the phone too. It’s become a bit of a routine. It’s good to receive the call, but in my experience, I won’t ask for help even when I need it (I know it’s my fault). It seems like they’re just reading off a sheet, so it’s become fairly impersonal. However, the mental health nurse called me today, and that was good. He and I spoke like old friends, without too many “standard” questions.

Pulled out the ukulele yesterday and figured out a few songs I might be able to pull off for a live stream… Maybe Saturday I’ll do something on Facebook Live. What do you say?

I signed up to Apple TV to watch the Beastie Boys documentary, damn that’s good. Thanks for the tip Johannes!

The stranded Aussie’s situation is getting me down (like every other day for the past 2 months). We were one of them, we know what it’s like to feel that the government has forgotten you. I really hope that things change soon, because I hard today flights are being cancelled for Janaury!!! It’s terrible.

Honestly I don’t like watching the news or reading too many posts on FB… But I feel that I have to, to help support as many folks as I can… I don’t want to turn my back on my fellow countrymen (like the Government has) but at the same time, I get really down quickly when I read the horror stories… I’m trying to find a balance…

Today I spent quite bit of the morning working on a song I was asked to mix… Although I am keeping very busy, it was nice to have some work to do.

I try to structure my day to help keep a routine. Make sure I take care of myself (and Alex). It’s not difficult to fall into the trap of spending the day lounging about, unmotivated, uninterested… I keep busy, focused on a long list of things I would like to achieve.

Bonus: today is fresh linen/bedding day! Fresh sheets! Fresh towels (it’s the small things….)

Singapore flight landed today, just like us last week, a bus load of folks arrive at the hotel for their first night in quarantine. I hope they settle in safely and calmly. It's a long 14 days....

I’m wondering if these long posts are not really suitable for Facebook. Do you like reading them here? Would you prefer more short updates/photos instead of long posts??? Should I use a blog website ?? If so, does anyone have a suggestion for a better platform to write? I’ve never done one of these kind of journal things online before…

Many thanks for reading,

Josh

#strandedaussies #removethecap #covid virus #quarantine #australia #travel

[ataswegianabroad]

@abcnews_au reached out to briefly discuss home quarantine with me, and what it means for the thousands of Aussies stuck overseas. ✈️🇦🇺 Link in bio and below: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/newsradio/national-cabinet-to-discuss-home-quarantine-plans/13546268 #Auspol #nationalcabinet #strandedaussies https://www.instagram.com/p/CT55uJbrVu1OKkrfcg7HGor4_YRfcJCeL6_RWk0/?utm_medium=tumblr

#auspol #nationalcabinet #strandedaussies

[serenityfoundme]

STRANDED AUSSIE!

Until when?

#australia #strandedaussie #scomo #scottmorrison

[worldnewsinpictures]

STRANDED AUSSIES: "Oh, let's blame Daniel again." - Senator Penny Wong. Friendly reminder the Morrison Govt is responsible for Quarantine.... Got an opinion about this? See what others are saying.... See MORE -> https://worldnewsinpictures.com/penny-wong #STRANDED #STRANDEDAUSSIES #STRANDEDAUSSIESDaniel #Penny #PennyWong #PennyWongFriendly #GovtQuarantine #GovtQuarantineGot #SeeMORE #AUSSIES #Daniel #Senator

[strandedaustralian]

So you’re thinking of moving to/visiting Australia? Don’t.

The international media has largely depicted Australia’s COVID response as something to be envied. You could be forgiven for being in awe of a country with low cases of COVID (if you can put aside the fact that they are geographically isolated, which already gave them a leg up in their ability to manage the pandemic). But are you aware of the costs of this response?

Do a quick search on Google, Facebook, or Twitter for #strandedaussies and you will find that this country that prides itself on ‘mateship’, on not turning their backs on their friends, on looking out for each other when times are at their absolute roughest, was the first and only country in the world (now recently joined by New Zealand) to abandon their citizens overseas for 19 months (and counting), blocking off their ability to return home and rendering them jobless, homeless, without visas and healthcare, still having to pay taxes in Australia, and for some, even leading to death and suicide. All the while, non-citizen celebrities, sports people, and politicians moved in and out of the country freely.

So what does this have to do with future tourists and migrants to Australia? Thinking of moving to Australia? Don’t. Unless you enjoy the idea of never seeing your overseas family again, or enjoy saying your last goodbyes as they die via Zoom. While it was always harder for people to enter Australia than it was to leave, Australia recently increased the requirements needed to leave - effectively trapping people within Australia. There were many stories of people being who, upon being told that their family overseas had suffered tragic events and had weeks (at most) to live, had their exemptions to leave Australia denied. Even though it was brought up time and time again that people leaving Australia does not impact COVID rates within Australia. Or they were unable to get their parents and family members into Australia for important events - births, sicknesses, deaths. You can search for #parentsareimmediatefamily to see the advocacy work of thousands of Australians within Australia who could not bring their parents into the country because the government did not consider parents close enough family to be allowed into the country (although, mind you, Natalie Portman was able to bring her parents into Australia). Many Australians took for granted that they could see their family and have their support networks throughout the pandemic. This was an unprecedented event that was taxing in every way possible; support networks were more important than ever. And so many migrant families were cut-off from this vital source of support when they needed it the most.

Thinking of studying in Australia? Don’t. You can also look up #internationalstudentsaustralia to see the thousands of students left in limbo overseas for 19+ months as they continue to pay educational fees, have their studies forcibly terminated by Universities, and pay rent on student housing they can’t live in. Several students have died by suicide as they cannot see a way back into Australia. Universities rely a LOT on international students to make them what they are, to add to their prestige and their global standings. They have been forgotten and ignored during Australia’s COVID response. You are brilliant, and you deserve better than Australia.

Thinking of visiting Australia? Don’t. From a moral standpoint - why financially support a country that treats its own citizens like trash? But it didn’t just treat citizens like trash, it treated anyone living outside of Australia as a COVID-carrying biohazard. The government, the media, and the public dehumanised them, vilified them, abused them, actively told them to “die overseas”. They called for the international borders to slam shut entirely, to cut themselves off from the world. Until, of course, their small business and tourism started to falter and they necessarily needed to open up international borders and suddenly beg tourists (the exact same people they had abused not a moment ago) to come and revive them. Demand better from Australia and vote with your money. I have hope that, one day, Australia will be a more ethical country, one that you would be proud to visit and financially support. But its current behaviour should not be condoned.

So yes, they kept their COVID cases low. But their response was an extreme end on the opposite spectrum to those governments that had incredibly high COVID cases and a lot of deaths. There is a middle ground needed. However, the majority of the Australian government and public did not think a middle ground existed - they believed it was better to sacrifice their overseas citizens, their migrant families, their overseas workers, and their international students for an indeterminable amount of time, while onshore Australians soaked in the glory of being considered globally to have ‘the best COVID response’. They hosted the Australian Open, countless American/British/global celebrities, packed stadiums full of sporting spectators the entire way through the pandemic, and held comedy and music festivals - all things they considered were worth more than the lives and wellbeing of others. They called said people who had family overseas weren’t “true Australians”, they called stranded Australians “traitorous mutts” for having the audacity to leave the country, and they actively wished death on all those outside of Australia’s borders - all while ignoring the fact that these overseas connections are what makes Australia what it is. The key theme running through this post is: if it happened once, it can happen again. At any time in the future, Australia may ignore and infringe upon your human rights. The government and public decided that their freedoms and their frivolity were worth more than human life. Now they want your tourism dollars, your brightest students, your highly skilled migrant workers back. Australia does not deserve your money, your skills, your love; it does not know how to love in return. The relationship with Australia is one-sided. I hope one day it will change but for now, I implore you to #boycottAustralia.

#Australia #tourism #tennis #australianopen #boycottaustralia #strandedaussies #loveisnottourism #parentsareimmediatefamily #queensland #natalie portman #brisbane #perth #hobart #sydney #canberra #auspol #covid19 #coronavirus #pandemic #melbourne #adelaide #darwin #internationalstudents #study #university #parents #family #social justice #Amnesty International #human rights

[strandedaustralian]

In today’s trash-fire round up of Australia’s COVID response...

- Beyond Blue, an organisation providing many services for mental health including a phone line for depressed individuals, hung up on a stranded Australian who expressed suicidal thoughts after the arrival caps to Australia were halved. Onshore Australians continue to believe that stranded Australians are all irresponsible backpackers living off government benefits - nothing could be further from the truth. The Australian Government has abandoned their citizens across the world and dumped their responsibility and welfare on other countries. They haven’t made vaccines available for them, they haven’t given them access to any benefits, their ‘repatriation flights’ cost more than the average flight price and are also prone to being cancelled when the arrival caps change, and they will not give them mental health support. All while many many of these stranded Australians continue to pay taxes to Australia.

- Caitlyn Jenner and Katie Hopkins were granted exemptions into Australia to be featured on the TV show ‘Celebrity Big Brother’. Stranded Australians are outraged once again that non-citizen celebrities are valued more in the community than their own citizenship. They are doubly distressed that such an abhorrent individual as Katie Hopkins was allowed in. In fact, after flouting quarantine rules, Katie Hopkins has since been dropped from Big Brother and will be sent home. But the pain remains for stranded Australians over whom she was prioritised.

- Over 130,000 people have called out Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for displaying hypocrisy by advocating for (and then gloating about) halved arrival caps into Australia and then swanning off to the Tokyo Olympics to make an Olympics bid for Brisbane for 2032. Something that could have been done via Zoom, in the same way that she forced thousands of families to say goodbye to dying loved ones and attend funerals via Zoom because she wouldn’t let them into Queensland or into the country.

Yes, stranded Australians are aware that the federal government are heavily implicated in the failure to return stranded Australians. They are certainly not blameless in their decisions to delegate quarantine spaces to the states and then sit back and do absolutely nothing. However, as the states now have control of quarantine arrangements, it would be in error to remove blame likewise from the state leaders. The continued low arrival caps that have restricted entry to Australia for stranded Australians and reuniting partners and families for the last 18 months are the result of government ineptitude and callousness at every level.

I believe internationally, other countries are beginning to see the holes in Australia’s COVID response. They are seeing that the pedestal it put itself on was made of human rights violations and a disdain for human life. I can only encourage you, if you are not in Australia, to see this country for what it really is. Hold it to account, do not hold it in high esteem.

#australia #bigbrother #celebrity #katiehopkins #caitlyn jenner #sydney #melbourne #auspol #brisbane #darwin #adelaide #canberra #perth #strandedaussies #uk #travel #covid19 #coronavirus #olympics #tokyo #sport #hobart #quarantine #mental health #beyondblue #humanrights

[strandedaustralian]

If you’re upset about Novak not being allowed into Australia, you’ve not been paying attention

THIS. THIS is the thing the global community decides to pick up on and highlight Australia’s inhumanity about. A privileged tennis player who was allowed into the country last year, despite publicly flaunting covid health and safety by organising a tennis tournament, while over 40,000 stranded Australians (including myself) were not allowed back into their home countries. A privileged tennis player who is spending a short amount of time in the same hotel where asylum seekers have been forced to spend years in detention, with zero media coverage. People are saying that this incident will highlight the abhorrent way that Australia has treated its own citizens during COVID (#strandedaussies) or asylum seekers for decades. It won’t. People will move on and forget. I’ve seen non-Australians praise the Australian Government (do even a second of Googling to see how corrupt Prime Minister Scott Morrison is, not just through COVID but his entire career in politics), and I’ve seen tennis fans defend Novak Djokovic (he expected privileges because he received them last year. Your ability to hit a ball does not mean you get more rights than other people). This is more than tennis. There are more important things than tennis (and this is coming from someone who adored the tennis, who attended 3/4 grand slams, played competitively - until 1200 tennis players and their entourages were allowed into the country last year for the Australian Open before actual citizens were, while actual citizens died trying to get back into the country. And almost every. single. one. came in without question. Imagine what good they could have done with their positions by raising awareness of the double standards? Stranded Australians might not have died, might have been home, might have been able to see their families for the last time, if the predatory class had a moral backbone. So before you rush to defend Novak, or the Australian Government, take in the big picture. And don’t look away when the issue passes on. Stranded Australians will still be stranded, asylum seekers will still be locked up, and Novak will still be earning millions of dollars regardless of what happens.

#strandedaussies #australia #australian open #tennis #grand slam #Novak Djokovic #covid #covid19 #pandemic #asylum seekers #human rights #refugees #melbourne #victoria #auspol #quarantine #travel #ausopen

[strandedaustralian]

I am beyond appalled, beyond devastated, beyond disgusted to hear this news from my country, Australia. For the last year, Australia’s COVID response has been heralded as the global envy with life going about as normal. With comedy festivals, music events, and sports tournaments (most notably, the Australian Open in February) going ahead within Australia and the onshore Australian public gushing about how ‘lucky’ they are. Make no mistake - it is not luck that has contributed to Australia’s low COVID numbers. It is many very deliberate decisions to abandon stranded Australians overseas over the course of the year, to withdraw from any sort of collective responsibility to this global crisis, and to dig their heads in the sand and ignore the pandemic. And now the cost of keeping the COVID numbers low have never been clearer with new laws under consideration to criminalise any stranded Australian who attempts to return from India - if Australia continues to pursue ‘donut days’ without any proactive COVID management approach, if Australian citizens continue to prioritise their own comfort and desire to go about life as if the rest of the world isn’t falling apart due to this crisis, it will come at the cost of condemning their own citizens - stranded and abandoned overseas - to death. What is the point of citizenship if you are abandoned, dehumanised, demonised by your country, if you can’t return to your country, if you have no citizenship rights, during a global pandemic? The reactions from the Australian Government to the COVID crisis in India is cowardly. It is selfish. It is callous. It is the very opposite of ‘mateship’ they are constantly harping on about. However, their reactions are the very natural progression of a year’s worth of decisions to slowly remove and violate the human rights of stranded Australians while the public sits either complacently, ignorantly, or in support of the draconian measures. It is also not surprising if you consider Australia’s poor record with human rights, particularly concerning their abhorrent treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and women (to name but a few). The very fact that this criminalisation of international travel comes now in response to India, when the virus has been ravaging countries such as the UK and the USA, is nothing short of explicit racism. 

As an Australian citizen myself, I am extremely ashamed. I am furious. I am devastated. And for not the first time in my advocacy journey as first a stranded Australian and now a returned stranded citizen, I feel utterly helpless and hopeless.

#australia #covid #india #cricket #australianopen #tennis #george clooney #covid19 #coronavirus #uk #usa #travel #pandemic #social justice #human rights #strandedaussies #auspol #politics #citizenship #government #bringthemhome #letusback #un #sydney #perth #scott morrison #brisbane #darwin #canberra #hobart

[strandedaustralian]

The QLD state premier just advocated fiercely for halved arrival caps in Queensland (even though the numbers allowed in per week were already incredibly small and were not meeting the demand of stranded Australians wanting to return).

When she was granted her wish, she then openly rejoiced about her oppression of stranded Australians on social media.

THEN she increased the price of hotel quarantine for those returning. Airlines have already been feeling the pinch of unsustainable mostly-empty flights to Australia for the past year and responded to the halved caps by increasing flight prices by at least three times the already-exorbitant price. The increased hotel quarantine fees are making returning home even less possible for those who have been trying desperately for the last 16 months.

NOW she boasts about being able to go to the Tokyo Olympic games. One rule for her, and one of the rest of us. This is not democratic. Sport is not essential. She is deliberately demonising, dehumanising, attacking stranded Australians, partners and families apart, and migrant families and telling them that their lives, mental health, and wellbeing is worthless - and is worth less than her unnecessary holiday to Tokyo. If you are impacted by these inhuman border caps, or even if you’re not but you want to by an ally and make noise for what is right, sign this petition and let her know Enough is Enough.

#australia #covid19 #tokyo #olympics #coronavirus #queensland #brisbane #sport #auspol #strandedaussies #arrivalcaps #flight #travel #twitter #corrupt #change #immigration #human rights

[strandedaustralian]

The already extremely low arrival caps into Australia have just been halved. Social media is a flurry of panicked stranded Australians waiting to see if their flights have been cancelled. Some have given up hope that they will ever see their families again. Some have given up hope in living altogether. My heart is heavy and I feel extremely powerless. This is not democracy. This is not human rights.

#australia #brisbane #auspol #queensland #human rights #strandedaussies #melbourne #victoria #sydney #canberra #new south wales #perth #adelaide #darwin #travel #COVID19 #coronavirus

[strandedaustralian]

A poll put out by Channel 9 News yesterday. This was the actual number of news followers and onshore Australians who want the borders closed. The poll now reflects higher numbers of ‘no’ as the poll was circulated around the #strandedaussie groups who made their voices heard. But these numbers are clear, and they are reflective of the larger Australian population. Australian mateship is a myth. This was never about safety. If it was, the Australian Open would not have gone ahead. If it was, the Australian public would be wearing masks and social distancing and engaging in proper hygiene. No, this is about the Australian public wanting to continue life as normal and ignore Australia’s global responsibilities in this worldwide pandemic. And to a large degree, life has gone on as normal for them. But it has come at the enormous cost of dividing the country and leaving tens of thousands of Australian citizens overseas to die. It has come at the cost of human rights, and human decency, and compassion. Australia is not a country to aspire to in terms of COVID response. The world should be appalled at how it has treated it’s citizens.

#australia #covid #coronavirus #melbourne #auspol #politics #australian open #tendou x reader #covid19 #travel #strandedaussies #removethecap #letusbackhome #channel9news #news #sydney #brisbane #perth #darwin #human rights

[strandedaustralian]

New data have revealed that 54 Australians so far have died overseas due to COVID. At least 3 of them were trying to get home, having registered with DFAT. However, many many stranded Australians don’t register with DFAT 1) because DFAT is entirely, completely, unbelievably useless, and 2) they want to come home, but they think other stranded aussies need more help than they do. So a greater proportion of these 54 deaths may be from stranded Australians.

I can’t stop wondering what they were thinking in their last days. Did they see Australians cheer as the Australian Open players and their entourage were able to enter and leave the country easily? Did they see Australians froth over the new celebrity to enter the country’s shores? Did they experience abuse from these same Australians when they tried to get back home? How many flights did they have cancelled?

Last week, someone who had lived in Australia throughout the pandemic told me that there was “no other option” to the closed borders and that Australia was “lucky” because they were able to drink in bars and sit in cafes throughout the pandemic. I’ve always half-joked that Australians would sacrifice the lives of others just so they could go watch the footy or drink outside, but these recent stats have proved it true. The selfishness is phenomenal and continues to rupture what little relationship I have left with this country I was born into and have meaningless citizenship with.

This isn’t a “hidden” toll of COVID. Australians, by now, know what the price of living with the unobtainable “Zero Covid” is - it costs the lives and wellbeing of their fellow citizens stranded overseas. And it is a price that the government and the public are more than willing to have others pay for them.

My heart goes out to the families of those stranded aussies who were left to die overseas by Australia.

#covid deaths #covid-19 #coronavirus #australia #sydney #auspol #strandedaussies #canberra #perth #brisbane #dfat #australianopen #tennis #politics #melbourne #darwin #adelaide #hobart

[strandedaustralian]

Beyond cruel, beyond hypocritical. These two states have time and time again pushed to allow celebrities and sports people into the country while simultaneously pointing the finger at stranded Australians and separated loved ones for any COVID “outbreaks” in the country. The QLD Premier has openly gone to social media to celebrate the entry of international film stars to Queensland. She also recently received a considerable amount of negative attention when she mentioned on Twitter that she received the Pfizer vaccine predominately so she could travel to Tokyo to discuss the 2032 Brisbane Olympics bid.

And the VIC premier is no better. He allowed 1200 tennis players and their entourages into the state for the Australian Open earlier this year, with promises that the quarantine hotels they ‘found’ for this event would later be used to get stranded Australians and others back home. This was a blatant lie; in fact, soon after the Australian Open, Victoria closed it’s border to all international arrivals. And yet both of these state premiers now have the audacity to call for cuts to international arrivals. This decision would have devastating impacts on the Love Is Not Tourism community, Parents are Immediate Family community, and Stranded Australians. It is nothing but hypocrisy to only allow the borders to open when you, a government official in a position of power, benefit from it.

Speaking personally, I was both a Stranded Australian and forcibly separated from my partner. I remain connected to those communities on social media and I have spent every day for the 15 months reading the heart-wrenching stories of hundreds of thousands of people who have been impacted by Australia’s human rights violating bans. I’ve felt helpless as I watch these people express desires for suicide because they can’t get home, I’ve watched partners break up with no clear end to their physical separation, I’ve watched people desperately plea for ideas on how to get home immediately because their family is dying back home, I’ve watched as they have been told by onshore Australians that they are worthless, that they should die overseas, that it’s their own fault for having family or connections overseas, that they aren’t Australian anymore, that the football and tennis are more important than the lives of their fellow citizens abandoned abroad. These are only a few of the stories I’ve heard.

I’m constantly struck by the new lows that Australia reaches, the lack of heart, the cruelty, the hypocrisy. I’m stunned by the silence and the complicity of the public as they let this continue, unwilling to wear masks or get vaccines but more than willing to condemn their fellow citizens or their migrant communities to mental ill-health or death. I don’t know how to enact change and it pains me of every second of every day.

#border #australia #queensland #qld #auspol #scott morrison #politics #covid19 #coronavirus #australianopen #tennis #Novak Djokovic #wimbledon #strandedaussies #brisbane #victoria #VIC #humanrights #sport #melbourne #lockdown #media #loveisnottourism #tokyo #olympics #western australia #perth #adelaide #hobart #canberra

[strandedaustralian]

So proud of the stranded Australian community in London making a stand and taking to the media over the weekend. 18 months into the COVID pandemic and things have only deteriorated for the Australian citizens still abandoned by their country across the world.

Arrival cap numbers into Australia are now the lowest they have ever been. Singapore Air has stopped flying into Australia entirely, resulting in mass cancellations. Stranded Australians have reported experiencing up to 14 flight cancellations since Australia implemented its cruel arrival caps. Of course, that hasn’t stopped thousands of non-citizen sports players, elite business people, and celebrities being allowed in without issue.

This is a problem resulting from every level of government, across the political spectrum. Both left and right wing politicians at federal and state levels have failed stranded Australians.

Every day I log onto Facebook and look at the dozens of stranded Australian groups from around the world. I see dozens of messages of people desperate and hopeless. For the last 18 months, I have seen people post about having flights cancelled, about having to watch their loved one die or their funeral via Zoom because they can’t get a flight back into Australia, about being told by the Australian embassies in their country that they can’t help them and they should go find a homeless shelter, about contemplating ending their lives because they can’t find a way out. I watch these brave people tell their stories to the media, trying to find a grain of empathy or consideration for human rights in the Australian Government. Sometimes the media pressure helps and they get a prioritised flight home. But they do so at the cost of incredible abuse by the Australia public. Maybe the tide is starting to change over the last few months, but you look at the comments section of any news footage or article about stranded Australians and they are filled with hateful words, of xenophobia, of a complete lack of empathy that runs counter to the so-called ‘mateship’ lauded by this country.

The “success” of Australia’s pandemic response was based on the sacrificing of it’s citizens, of it’s human rights, of it’s morals. Stranded Australians are exhausted but they continue to fight. As a former stranded Australian myself, I fight alongside you.

#strandedaussies #australia #melbourne #victoria #auspol #politics #lockdown #covid19 #coronavirus #news #loveisnottourism #parentsareimmediatefamily #reconnectaustralia #brisbane #queensland #sydney #new south wales #canberra #act #darwin #northern territory #western australia #perth #adelaide #south australia #hobart #tasmania #singapore airlines #london #uk

[strandedaustralian]

To the tune of, “I Still Call Australia Home”. Written in September 2020 and still far too relevant now. Tens of thousands of Australians remain stranded overseas. The Australian Government does not need to bring #strandedaussies home - they need to stop being the obstacles in the way of their return.

#australia #auspol #government #politics #strandedaussies #humanrights #music #youtube #home #covid19 #coronavirus #covid19aus #removethecap