Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link]—One of the values that Australians hold dear is that they never leave a mate behind, yet this is what the Morrison government has done to thousands of Australian citizens and permanent residents—those who have become stranded overseas due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these Australians have been trying to return home for over six months. Once the pandemic stopped the world in its tracks, they heeded the government's advice to stay put if they had employment and living arrangements. As economic conditions deteriorated across the globe, many lost their employment, had to give up their leases and are now stranded in a foreign country with no income and no support. When flights are available, there has been price gouging, with many airlines forcing Australians to purchase business or first-class tickets in order to reserve a seat.

Stranded Australians have turned to their government in their time of need. They would expect their government to move heaven and earth to help them, but instead the government has turned its back on them. We know of around 37,000 Australians stranded overseas. This figure has doubled since August, and it keeps on going up as Australians register with embassies, high commissions and consulates. The number continues to rise despite the Prime Minister's hollow promise that he would get these Australians home and out of quarantine by Christmas. As of today, Mr Morrison has only 10 days to deliver on that promise. Does the Prime Minister seriously expect us to believe, with his track record so far, that he will get 37,000 Australians home within the next 10 days? I think not.

About 8,000 Australians overseas are considered to be financially or medically vulnerable. This means they are facing the risk of or, in some cases, currently experiencing financial hardship, poverty and even homelessness. Even for those with the means to get by in their host country, many fear that, by the time they get home, they could have lost their homes, jobs or livelihoods in Australia. One of my Tasmanian constituents stranded overseas contacted my office after he had been discharged from hospital following a heart attack. He had been unable to secure accommodation and was about to head to a homeless shelter. Another one who has been stranded overseas for seven months now has told my office that due to poor internet access he is having great difficulty completing the online forms required by Australian government agencies, particularly uploading large documents. His phone provider recently cancelled his SIM card, which has prevented him from receiving the SMS codes required to withdraw money sent by a friend. Particularly concerning for him is that his insurance company recently cancelled his travel insurance because of Australia's ban on overseas travel.

It's pretty scary to imagine how many other Australians are stuck overseas through no fault of their own—those without insurance cover who will struggle to access health care if they have a serious injury or illness, including if they contract COVID-19. That's got to be a terrifying scenario for many Australians. Imagine how isolated and vulnerable they must feel. To get an idea of how some of them feel, you need only examine the Hansard transcript from the public hearings of the Senate's COVID-19 committee. Peta, a Melbourne resident who addressed the committee while stuck in Serbia with her family, including her 79-year-old brother-in-law, posed this question to the committee: 'How am I supposed to instil a sense of national pride in my children and friends and people we know about being Australians when you have so poorly let us down?' Peta also told the committee: 'The cap has abandoned my family and it has abandoned our citizens who are overseas. They are not stranded; they are abandoned by the government.' The 'cap' Peta was referring to is the limit placed on international arrivals, and it is one of the main reasons why stranded Australians feel abandoned by this government.

Adding to the sense of betrayal is the admission by the Department of Home Affairs that non-Australians with business, innovation, investment and student visas could be taking quarantine places from Australian citizens and permanent residents. Another stranded Australian, Deanne, who was stuck in the UK when she addressed the committee, spoke about the sense of betrayal of being abandoned by her government. She said: 'It just feels like a long-term boyfriend cheating on me. I've given my life to Australia and in my time of need they have dumped me.'

Early in the pandemic the government belatedly helped organise some flights for Australians in Wuhan and passengers of the Diamond Princess in Japan, but they haven't done nearly enough to repatriate stranded Australians. In fact, they have spent substantially more taxpayer money chartering flights out of Australia and on lobsters, prawns and abalone than they have spent chartering flights into Australia for Aussies stuck overseas. It has shocked and appalled many Australians that this government has spent over $4,300 an hour on an RAAF plan to help former senator Mathias Cormann lobby for his OECD job—yet they can't task RAAF planes to help get Australians home. Most of the Australians who have been able to return to Australia have done so on their own initiative. Some have come together with other stranded Australians to book and share the cost of charter flights. In doing so, they have undertaken a task that the government should have been doing months ago.

There are three simple actions that Labor is calling on the Morrison government to take to help Australians stranded overseas to get back home: (1) increase the caps on international arrivals so that more Australians can return to Australia; (2) stop the price gouging by airlines flying into Australia—it's outrageous that, simply to get home, some Australians are being forced to pay as much as $15,000 in airfares; (3) use all possible flight options to bring stranded Australians home, including working with airlines to increase the number of commercial flights and charter flights and using the fleet of the Royal Australian Air Force. There are thousands of Qantas and Virgin workers currently on JobKeeper and hundreds of plane sitting idle. We acknowledge that Qantas has provided some repatriation flights, but why isn't the government asking the airlines so they can use more of their spare capacity to bring more Australians home?

Mr Morrison could also deploy the RAAF fleet of VIP aircraft around the globe. As I said earlier, the government seems to have no trouble tasking an RAAF aircraft to fly a former Liberal minister around Europe—and providing him with eight staff—so he can apply for a job. Mr Morrison has spent months dismissing our calls to use the RAAF fleet to bring stranded Australians home, yet he thinks the extravagance heaped on Mr Cormann is okay. And what was the Prime Minister's glib explanation for this? 'He might get COVID.' Does Mr Morrison not think that the 37,000 Australian stuck overseas might also be at risk of contracting COVID-19 too? A lot of those at risk would be in countries where they've got no health insurance cover. It's unconscionable that the government are putting one of their mates ahead of vulnerable Australians.

Mr Morrison keeps blaming hotel quarantine arrangements for his government's lack of progress. He keeps pointing the finger at the states and the territories, because we know he's never to blame for anything. But he is trying to pull the wool over Australians' eyes. He knows that his government could expand quarantine arrangements. He has clear and thorough advice from the hotel quarantine review about how the federal government could do this, including advice to run quarantine under federal legislation and to open up further quarantine facilities such as the RAAF Learmonth base. The Morrison government's failure to take the necessary actions to get stranded Australians home is a dereliction of its duty to its citizens and it's a breach of the citizens' human rights. It's an indelible stain on the record of this government that it has abandoned thousands of Australian for months when they were at their most vulnerable and looking to the government for help. This absolute lack of care and concern for thousands of vulnerable Australians is outrageous.

Australia should have a reputation for looking after its citizens abroad, but when turning to Mr Morrison's government, you're on your own. For anyone listening to these proceedings right now who wants to add their voice to the thousands calling on the Morrison government to rescue stranded Australians, I encourage you to sign Labor's petition. You can find this petition online at www.alp.org.au/strandedaussies. (Time expired)