#strandedaussies - Abandoned Part 4
The late Tony Benn - British Labour Party politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s.
Some notes on this blog post:
This is the fourth installment of my series on ‘abandonment’. Previous posts, which you can read here Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 covered abandonment of countries, indigenous lands, buildings, cultures and self.
I never intended to write about my home country of Australia, but after observing the consequences of the strict border policies on both Australians abroad trying to get home and also on separated loved ones; along with misinformation back in Australia, I felt compelled and wanted to shed some light on the real situation.
I am not a journalist, just an expat Australian living with my family in Memphis, USA, that has been following the situation for a number of months. We do not currently consider ourselves stranded.
“The way a government treats refugees is very instructive because it shows you how they would treat the rest of us if they thought they could get away with it.” Tony Benn, British Labour Party politician, 1960s and 1970s.
What a really interesting quote to ponder as almost 40,000 Australians are registered with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) as trying to get home, with approximately 5,000 classified as vulnerable.
Australia hasn’t historically treated refugees with a lot of compassion. Our current Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, was instrumental in designing harsh border protection policies when he was Immigration Minister under the Abbott Government, and he proudly displays a migrant boat trophy in his office that says ‘I Stopped These’. It was a gift from a constituent. Perhaps in a year or so he’ll be gifted another trophy, this one of a plane, also saying ‘I Stopped These’. Bit harsh? Maybe; there is no doubt that Australia has been one of the most successful countries in the world at handling the COVID pandemic. Potentially tens of thousands of deaths have been avoided by the Government’s early actions by demonstrating bipartisanship (at least in the beginning), listening to the science, closing of the borders, and the strict enforcement of lockdown rules. A far cry from the country I’m currently living in.
Most Australians abroad agree with the the strict procedures that Australia has put in place to keep the country COVID safe; and are more than happy to do what is required of them to get home. Most don’t need a handout, but they do need a flight, and for so many this has been an enormous, often heart-breaking and financially crippling struggle. But even that has not been the hardest thing for many; it’s the misinformation and duplicitousness from the highest leaders of the land, the media messaging, the double standards, the ‘passing the buck’ between Federal and State Governments and their lacklustre willingness to enable citizens to come home that has irritated them the most. Yes, it’s a pandemic and we’re in unprecedented times, but many of these people feel abandoned by their own country, and are beginning to feel like first world refugees.
We need to look beyond the glossy surface of doughnut days (shorthand for no new cases and no new deaths from coronavirus) and realise how the treatment of #strandedaussies, and all those that have been separated from loved ones by the strict border policies, affects the Australian ideal.
Picture this - your dream of working abroad has come true. You’ve moved your family across the world, your children are in school, you’re renting a house, and you’re living the dream; but then a pandemic hits. You are advised by the Australian Government to stay put if you have secure employment and lodgings, rather than add to the congestion. They tell the travellers to come home, but you’re not a traveller. You listen to your government and you stay put.
Then the government conveniently omit this directive several months later when the rhetoric and fear of repatriation is gaining fervor.
You then lose your job due to the pandemic, which means you also lose your working visa, accommodation and income. You have virtually no option other than try to get back to your home country, but severe caps on international arrivals due to the quarantine process mean that:
those airlines that are still flying to Australia can only carry 20 - 50 passengers, so in order to make these flights viable, they must increase the prices dramatically, and flights for your family are unaffordable, or
you manage to find some affordable flights but then the flights are continuously cancelled, or
you buy flights for a flight route that the airlines ‘hope’ will restart, but they don’t, so you’re cancelled, or
you buy flights through a dishonest travel agent but the flights never existed and you’ve lost your money, or
the country where you were due to transition through is no longer allowing arrivals from the country you’re coming from, or
you attempt to ‘buy’ a DFAT repatriation flight (which actually cost from $2000 - $8000) and they sell out within 10 minutes and you’ve missed out, or
a family member ends up contracting COVID just before you’re about to fly, OR OR OR OR OR…….
The many barriers are real. You realise there are thousands of others going through the same issues, and you take your case to the media in the hope that those at home will understand the dire circumstances many are under, only to be verbally abused online by your fellow Australians that don’t want you coming home anyway.
This is the situation that many Australians abroad have been facing.
To add to the frustration, #strandedaussies have seen the Government seemingly prioritise commercial and celebrity interests above the plight of their own citizens.
“If you want to come to Australia during a pandemic you have to be a movie celebrity, sports star (cricket, tennis, surfing), a politician, a diplomat, a businessman, a US marine, a rich student, or a seasonal island worker. Citizenship and an Australian passport alone are not enough.” Twitter user using the term #strandedaussie.
I think most abroad would agree that major sporting events and films made in Australia are wonderful for the country, secure many jobs, and bring in much needed dollars to some decimated industries; but when a willingness is shown to bring in thousands of foreign nationals ahead of helping Australia citizens get home, well it’s a big kick in the teeth for many.
Whenever there is a new online article published about #strandedaussies, or quarantine problems, the comments section is rife with vitriol from keyboard warriors - but you just ignore those comments, right? They’re just nasty, ignorant trolls, … but are they? When I started reading the comments section of the ABC online articles a few months back, I had to stop, they were simply awful. I told myself they weren't important, and that most Australians didn’t think like that. But it was when The Guardian poll came out on February 15 that stated 71% of Australians think borders should stay shut until global Covid crisis has passed that I became more concerned. Channel 9 also ran a poll with similar figures. I know they’re just merely samples of the population, but the fact there even WAS a poll asking this question rattled me. For a country where almost 70% of its citizens hold passports (in the US it’s closer to 40%), and where travel abroad is often a rite of passage, or a way to broaden one’s horizons from the possible isolationism of an island nation in the southern hemisphere, I wondered where these attitudes were coming from, and where the value of mateship that Australian’s hold so dear had gone?
Here is a small taste of some of those online comments; most are from the ABC online articles related to #strandedaussies and quarantine:
“It’s your fault, you should have come home when you were told.”
“You are wasting taxpayer’s money.”
“You don’t deserve to come home.”
“I hope you catch COVID and die along with all the rest of you out there.”
“These people can get home but they just want the government to pay for it despite the fact they were overseas for work anyway.”
“You’re selfish for trying to return to Australia. Why don’t you stay away, think about the ‘danger’ you are putting ‘real Australians’ under.”
“Both the Federal and Victorian governments put all those people at risk for the sake of a few that were happy to live elsewhere till Australia was a better option. Think yourself lucky that you or a member of their family haven’t lost their life as a result of these people that now need to come home and bring COVID with them.”
“Stop flights. We would be able to travel to all states in Australia if it wasn’t for these people.”
“They buy a ticket and wait like everyone else. How did their being overseas become the governments problem?”
“If you can afford to move or holiday overseas you can afford to fund your trip home.”
“It’s been almost a year, so they can only really blame themselves.”
“Make them do 14 days quarantine prior to boarding and another 14 days once in Australia. Make it so tough for people wanting to come in, they have had a year.”
And summed up in the following excerpt from the article: Coronavirus: Scott Morrison plays to home crowd over ‘pariah’ expats;
“For expats, even taking to social media is dangerous because an ugly anti-expat sentiment is alive and kicking in this country. Australians are telling expats that they hope they die from COVID. Telling them they have no right to return. Accusing them of being too big for their britches for leaving in the first place. Labelling expats as entitled, spoilt brats who should not get a dime of government help. It is vile stuff, driven by envy, spite, ignorance and fear.” Janet Albrechtsen, The Australian.
Australians are used to these types of attitudes directed towards ‘others’ - immigrants, refugees, our indigenous population; but on Aussies abroad, well, that’s something new. These people have been made to feel dehumanised and unwelcomed by their own compatriots. Here’s a snippet of some of their thoughts, gathered from some ‘Abandoned Aussies’ Facebook pages:
“All this is making me absolutely terrified. It is really impacting on my level of courage to carry on in the process of getting our family back to Australia. I don’t want to be regarded as an intruder, inmate, detainee, returned traveller - an object with no human attributes.”
“I honestly think most Aussies have had ‘refugee = bad’ brainwashed into us for so long we don’t even notice the cruelty of the government messaging as it’s become so normalised.”
“We are not stranded, we are abandoned.”
“I work hard to shield my child from how I feel because I want her to continue loving Australia. #strandedaussies were dehumanised by our own government nearly a year ago. Nothing has improved, everything has gotten worse.”
“One of the hardest things to deal with is the hard-heartedness, lack of empathy and occasional abuse from my family and friends when I describe what I’ve gone through.”
“A crises always brings out the worst along with the best in people. Unfortunately the foundations for the worst were in place well before COVID in our offshore detention regime, with the xenophobic ‘we decide who comes into the country’ now extended to citizens.”
“Don’t mean to sound morbid but how come Australia doesn’t report on the number of deaths of #strandedaussies from COVID? In normal circumstances any Australian death overseas is in the news. Suddenly no one is interested.”
“I think the hardest pill to swallow is that there is no fairness or logic in the process. It’s random, not transparent, there is no queue. Same on the exemptions process: some people manage to come here very easily on some kind of working/business visa and family members on compassionate ground don’t stand a chance. That’s where the rhetoric of ‘keeping everyone safe’ shows all its hypocrisy.”
It is hard to believe that Australians can be so divided on this issue, why?
It’s true, DFAT have helped some Australians come home on repatriation flights (at a considerable cost to the returnee) and loans have been offered to some in the most dire of circumstances. These flights are not without issues though, as usually they are offered at the last minute, with not enough time for returnees to pack up their lives. Alternately the flights have sold out very quickly, or the flights are from cities that are too far away and there is too much risk in travelling and hoping for a negative COVID test within 72 hours. It’s a complicated situation for all involved, and none of us have ever done it before! But it’s important to look at some facts - which don’t seem to have been widely communicated.
Besides the facts I’ve listed in this post, there are many, many more that should be read and understood before claiming to have an informed opinion on this issue. There are too many to mention in this post, but there is one comprehensive website that list many of them:
The Stranded Aussies Action Network (SAAN) website is “an initiative that formed in January 2021 when the Australian government halved its international arrivals caps. The group believe the #strandedaussies crisis was preventable, and their objective is “to make the critical facts and figures widely known and to provide tools to help all of those impacted to advocate for themselves and their loved ones.”
Here are some links to answer the commonly asked questions, or to dispel some of the misinformation that is currently circulating:
Fast Facts - for example:
How many returned Australians actually test positive for COVID?
What are the current caps, and how will these inadequate levels only compound the crisis?
What is a sustainable flight cap?
How many exemptions are granted each month?
Common Misconceptions and frequently asked questions - for example:
Why didn’t you come home when the government told you to?
Why do the numbers of stranded overseas keep growing?
Why should taxpayers fund repatriation flights for stranded Aussies? (they don’t)
The Politics of The Flight Caps
Who actually is responsible for quarantine, Federal or State? (it’s complicated, and it’s both)
Details on which countries have done it better and what Australia could learn from them (inc NZ)
It works in other countries with huge success, why not Australia?
I wonder, if the public knew the facts, would so many Australians still be victim blaming? Maybe - this virus is a scary thing, and the media have made it even scarier. If I was in Australia looking out to the US or the UK, I’d be fearful of the virus too; and if I had lived through one of the strictest lockdowns in the world for nearly 6 months, I would want to do everything in my power to stop that from happening again. But I’m currently residing outside of Australia, so I guess that gives me a different perspective, and what I see is political spin, thrown in with some media sensationalism, tall poppy syndrome and a growing lack of empathy for any issue ‘that doesn’t affect me’ - all perpetuated from the highest leaders of our country.
Political Spin - Federal and State
The message to those living and working overseas long-term on the Smartraveller.gov.au website, March 26, 2020 was “If you’re living and working overseas long-term, you may have the support, accommodation and income you need to remain where you are through this period.”
But a few months later the message from Political Leaders was vastly different as they effectively abandoned those Australians still abroad and played to the hometown fears; here is a sample of what was said:
“Australians trying to return home now have had ample time to do so, and obviously delayed that decision for a period.” Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. July 2020. (via The Conversation)
“If you want to be in Western Australia you should’ve come home before now. That’s what should’ve happened. I mean we’ve been going through this now for six months. Sometimes I think people haven’t listened or haven’t wanted to listen or think the rules are there for everyone else but not them.” Mark McGowan, WA Premier. Early Aug 2020. (via ABC radio and 7 News)
"Australian residents overseas have had three or four months to think about what they want to do.” Gladys Berejiklian, NSW Premier, July 2020. (via SBS). Note though, she is now the most supportive Premier in getting #strandedaussies home.
Is it any wonder then that Australians at home began to shift the blame towards the Australians abroad? What a strategy from our leaders - deflect the blame, don’t take responsibility, hide under the guise of ‘keeping Australians at home safe’, when in fact their responsibility is to look after ALL Australians, wherever they are in the world.
More recently, this comment from Victorian Premier Dan Andrews hit some nerves:
“There needs to be a cold, hard discussion, and I’m happy to lead it, if I have to, about whether with this UK strain ... should it be a much smaller [arrivals] program that’s based on compassionate grounds? It’s not for me to make announcements about how many Australians get to come back to Australia. That’s for the federal government. What I’m saying is the game has changed. This thing is not the 2020 virus. It is very different. It is much faster. It spreads much more easily.” Daniel Andrews, Victorian Premier, Jan 2021. (via ABC)
Language used such as "hyper-infectious" UK strain "moving at lightspeed" I’m sure added to the narrative that returning citizens are dangerous, COVID-infected, irresponsible travellers that need to be stopped. This language also helps to convince the people of Victoria for the need of another lockdown, and also justifies the closure of hotel quarantine, despite the $377 million cost of the program. However, if you’ve been stranded for a year and are struggling to make ends meet, it doesn’t really come across as sympathetic, and the concept of ranking one’s compassionate reasoning against another is almost impossible to consider.
″We should not be pitting Australian against Australian for the chance to get home during this pandemic.” Andrew Giles MP, (via The Sydney Morning Herald)
“I am really horrified by this idea. It’s already hard enough being stranded and abandoned by our government, but to lay out for them our tragedies and weaknesses, and have them judge us against one another? It’s unspeakable.” #strandedaussie
“That’s probably the biggest disgrace - making me state my case as to why I should be allowed to return home for someone to tick and flick a few boxes to decide if I deserve compassion or not. I don’t have any right to live anywhere else. I have one passport and it’s Australian.” #strandedaussie
We’ve recently seen the Western Australian Labor Premier, Mark McGowan win the state election in a landslide victory. I’m sure there are many varied reasons as to why, but I have absolutely no doubt that his hard-border protection “keeping us safe” narrative is a major reason for his win. Keeping #strandedaussies out of the country is popular and wins votes - much like keeping out refugees, so why change now?
It’s a tough gig. I wouldn’t want to be a politician during a pandemic, and I try to keep the following quote in mind when I find myself getting annoyed:
“All I know is that my life is better when I assume that people are doing their best. It keeps me out of judgment and lets me focus on what is, and not what should or could be.” Brene Brown
But then I’m also reminded of this politician - someone with empathy, compassion, and who ‘gets it’, Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand Prime Minister (press play):
(“No other democracy in the world has denied entry to its own citizens. Our neighbour, New Zealand, effectively expanded hotel quarantine back in July and continues to allow all of its citizens and residents to enter, whilst keeping the virus out. This is not a logistical issue. It is a lack of political will that is preventing stranded Australians from returning home.”) via bringthemhome
Tall Poppy Syndrome
I suspect a contributing factor to Australia’s success in combatting COVID is its supposed egalitarianism. The country has been built on the idea of mateship and having a fair go, and people’s individual rights generally aren’t above anyone else’s. If an individual thinks they are better than others, they’re quickly brought down to earth. With faith in the government to look after its citizens, it’s resulted in Australians mostly doing what they were asked to do in order to combat COVID, and it’s proved hugely successful.
But perhaps a negative component of this egalitarianism is the ‘Tall Poppy Syndrome’.
Once most of the tourists returned home following the onset of COVID, those left overseas most likely fit into the categories of dual-citizens or expat workers. Neither of these groups are likely to generate much compassion from a petrified local populace. This is particularly true for the expat workers who my be seen as well-to-do corporate types who choose to live elsewhere. This sentiment is evident with comments such as:
“you chose to stay overseas and work until it no longer suited you and as far as I’m concerned you can bloody well stay there!”…..…..common place on social media, and we often hear the phrase ‘isn’t Australia good enough for ya'?’
I’ve tried to explain the Tall Poppy Syndrome to people in the US, but they don’t understand it. It doesn’t really exist in this culture, but it seems to be well and truly alive in Australia. I wonder, just how much does this unconsciously come into play on this issue?
But there are additional groups that have been affected as well. Exemptions have been granted to citizens/permanent residents to leave Australia for reasons such as caring for a dying loved one (and rightly so), but with almost as many exemptions given compared to the cap on arrival places, many of those granted exemption find they are not able to get back in. And then there are those that haven’t seen their partners, or even children, for over a year - just for being of a different nationality. What hope do they have when even citizens struggle to get home.
Empathy (or lack thereof)
These factors have combined to create what appears to be a distinct lack of empathy from some, for those citizens trying to return home.
As Brigid Delaney wrote in her recent Guardian article Australia is the Covid lucky country. But we risk becoming cruel:
“When you emerge relatively unscathed in a devastated world, there is a risk of being out of step, of lacking empathy. To remain tethered (to the rest of the world) feels important. Without it, there’s no empathy, and away from the hotspots, the virus becomes a bit flat, an abstraction. 500,000 dead? What does that really mean? Empathy requires information and imagination. What’s it like to be you? Can I imagine myself in your shoes? Without empathy the connection between two people weakens, as does any compassion that might flow as a result.”
She continues with a discussion on the lack of compassion and empathy that has been at play since Australia’s treatment of Indigenous Australian’s, and has continued with our asylum policy and treatment of refugees.
She writes:
“Now you see the cruel, logical extension of this (asylum) policy being turned on Australia’s own citizens that are stuck beyond our borders. No other country, let alone a country as wealthy as Australia, has made it as hard for its citizens to get home during the global pandemic. What was once applied to the other has now been turned on our own citizens - with broad support from the populace. It was only a matter of time. Cruelty takes the seat vacated by empathy.”
It’s a really interesting article, but I ponder the heading - ‘we risk becoming cruel’ - it feels like that boat has already sailed, and the risk is the cruelty spreads as fast as the virus.
Esther Rockett, one of the founders of the Stranded Aussies Action Network (SAAN) has written a compelling article titled Stranded Aussies and Advance Australia Unfair in which she makes some very astute observations. This statement particularly resonated with me:
“Many stranded Aussies have been awakened to what marginalised Australians have experienced - that it’s in the interests of those in politics to make sure the majority of the population remains unsympathetic. As long as they are, there’s minimal pressure to change oppressive policies.”
Perhaps Tony Benn was correct, as to date the Australian Government has been treating #strandedaussies as if they are inferior and they seem to be ‘getting away with it’.
In giving this subject more light, I ponder hope, and what that means to all of us:
“When our hearts are filled with hope, we can look past our current circumstances to the good that will come in the future. Embracing hope is a choice. The opposite of the virtue of hope is worry or anger over current circumstances. While those are natural reactions to situations that we hate, they lead us down a path toward darkness and discouragement.” Lisa Brenninkmeyer, Walking With Purpose.
It’s been a tumultuous time in our lives, and fear abounds, but we can always hang onto hope.
I can only hope that those stranded abroad and on the path to darkness can be uplifted with some positive news.
I can only hope that Australians at home can understand the plight of #strandedaussies, and that the situation was not really of their making.
I can only hope we can all have more empathy for each other.
I can only hope that the Australian leadership embraces more empathy to those stranded or separated from loved ones, and show more willingness to help.
And finally, if there is some real glimmer of light that has been discovered through the #strandedaussies situation, then my hope is that that there are now tens of thousands more Australians that will be more sympathetic to the plight of the marginalised.
And that can only be a good thing.
Here’s some stories from #strandedaussies last November; a compelling watch:
Other Commentary
Previous Australian Ambassadors:
“Australia has alienated some of its best overseas who will never return. The creeping rejection of expats resonates with the Shire mentality. But this, and the weakening of the Federation, will manifest in terrible ways I fear in the next decade or so. Brendan Berne, Australia’s ambassador to France, Algeria, Mauritania and Monarco (July 2017 to October 2020).
“It’s absolutely stunning how easy the Morrison government has found it to shuffle off its responsibilities for quarantine and assisting Australians abroad (or even duty of care to its own employees overseas). Blaming the states for things it should have taken care of itself and managed competently without a second thought; portraying those abroad as selfish, and entitled - the list goes on.”
John Langtry, Australia’s ambassador to Mongolia (Dec 2015 to Jan 2019).
Related Articles:
Getting a flight home should not depend on how rich you are
https://www.smh.com.au/national/getting-a-flight-home-should-not-depend-on-how-rich-you-are-20210304-p577un.html
Stranded Aussies and Advance Australia Unfair
https://rightnow.org.au/opinion-3/stranded-aussies-advance-australia-unfair/
Coronavirus: Scott Morrison plays to home crowd over ‘pariah’ expats https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/coronavirus-pm-plays-to-home-crowd-over-pariah-expats/news-story/0ee941ca8c0da7b688a0f3ca567c39e7
Australia is the Covid lucky country. But we risk becoming cruel. When you emerge relatively unscathed in a devastated world, there is a risk of being out of step, of lacking empathy https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/26/australia-is-once-again-the-lucky-country-but-if-we-cant-feel-the-virus-pain-beyond-our-shores-we-are-simply-cruel
And in response to this article: “Now you see the cruel, logical extension of this policy (refugees) being turned on Australia’s own citizens that are stuck beyond our borders.'“ Spot on analysis - Australian exceptionalism and isolation, epitomized by lack of empathy for refugees, is now felt by Australian citizens abroad.” Phil Lynch.
Daniel Andrews flags shutting out stranded Australians except for 'compassionate cases' - Citizens stuck overseas say the idea of making them list their ‘tragedies’ to be ranked is ‘unspeakable’ https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/12/daniel-andrews-flags-shutting-out-stranded-australians-except-for-compassionate-cases
Seventy per cent of Australians think border should stay shut until global Covid crisis has passed – poll https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/16/seventy-per-cent-of-australians-think-border-should-stay-shut-until-global-covid-crisis-has-passed-poll
Danger in Paradise: we’re at risk of being Little Australia
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/danger-in-paradise-were-at-risk-of-being-little-australia/news-story/bcca920c6d7e9ffcd819f6fef28024ac
Why Didn’t You Come Home When You Were Told?
https://wildeprecious.wordpress.com/2021/02/24/why-didnt-you-come-home-when-you-were-told-to/
Australian expats: Some Australians don't want to come home and I don't blame them https://www.traveller.com.au/australian-expats-some-australians-dont-want-to-come-home-and-i-dont-blame-them-h1t6mr
‘It’s not fair’: Visitors taking seats from stranded Australians on scarce flights
https://www.smh.com.au/national/it-s-not-fair-visitors-taking-seats-from-stranded-australians-on-scarce-flights-20210227-p576dj.html