Returnees

I will try and restrict myself to this being my last blog post regarding COVID-19. However I suspect I'll be unsuccessful!

Over the last couple of days the leading media story is about the 27,000+ Australians who are trapped overseas and want to return home. Currently there is an Australian overseas arrivals cap of 4000 per week, which is maximum number the existing quarantine resources can manage.

On 17 March of this year the Federal government urged all overseas Australian citizens to immediately return to Australia and no citizens should go overseas. Six months later there are still 27,000+ overseas. Who are these people? I suspect the majority probably fall into one of the following categories.

1. Already overseas on extended holiday and didn't want to return.

2. Already overseas; didn't immediately return; and subsequently found themselves trapped when that country's borders were closed.

3. Dual citizen living overseas

4. Departed Australia after 17 March and now can't get back

5. One of the above and now doesn't have the money for the high return airfares.

Excluding 4 above, all these people made a conscious decision to ignore their government and not immediately return. Thousands did; frequently at additional expense. Those in category 4 left Australia, despite government instructions not to go.

These people are solely responsible for their situation and are now demanding the government rectify the problem they have created.

The Federal leader of the opposition was interviewed on TV demanding the PM use air force jets (large and small) or chartered Qantas aircraft to retrieve these people. Whilst this makes a great headline it ignores the real issue which is the lack of quarantine resources. Of course an option might be to allow returning citizens to 'self-quarantine' in their homes. I'll return to this point later.

The leader of the oppositions airlift suggestion isn't without precedence. In 2006 a large number of Australian-Lebanese dual citizens were trapped in Lebanon during the civil war. At that time some 25,000 dual Australian-Lebanese were in the country. Australia was able to arrange the evacuation of approximately 2500, many of whom were flown back to Australia on government chartered aircraft. The affected people were supposed to pay for their flight; but many never did. I take two lessons from this. There are thousands of dual national citizens living overseas on a semi-permanent bases. A citizen can spend up to six months outside Australia and still receive the government pension. You can obviously live a good life in Lebanon on an Australian pension. Moreover Lebanon is only one of many countries where this can occur. The second lesson is; when the government pays for something many people feel no obligation to repay.

Returning to the point about self-quarantining. Those who are most likely to comply with self-quarantining are the same people who have a sense of social responsibility. I suspect the majority of those overseas don't have that sense of social responsibility and therefore cannot be trusted to self-quarantine. That is; the general public don't want these people returning to self-quarantine only to cause a 'second wave'.

This brings us back to the issue of existing quarantine capacity. The Federal government has asked the States to accept an increase in returning citizens. Here in Western Australia the available hotels are already full and there is a lack of additional human resources (ie, guards, medical workers and support staff). In the early stages of the pandemic, when everyone was limiting their movements, the State government quarantined cruise ship passengers on the holiday resort island of Rottnest, just off the coast of Perth. This worked because Rottnest resort was empty as a consequence of the pandemic lockdown. The State is now open (internally) and COVID-19 free. Consequentially Rottnest resort is fully booked until next February. It's not hard to imagine the State government’s reluctance to tell citizens who complied with all the lockdown restrictions during the last six months they now have to give up their holiday for people who failed to comply with the Federal government directive back in March.

My opinion is the government should not provide return flights to Australia. There is already sufficient capacity on commercial airlines. The government should not be paying for airfares. Citizens who complied with the government instruction to return six months ago had to pay for their own airfares. People who failed to comply shouldn't now be rewarded with a free flight.

The Federal and State governments should provide supervised quarantine facilities to returnees. Self-quarantine shouldn't be an option as affected people have already demonstrated a lack of willingness to comply with instructions. Returnees who have the funds and are prepared to pay, should be allowed go into hotel quarantine. Those without the funds or unwilling to pay, should be detailed in a holding camp. Australia is a vast country with a number of isolated defence facilities. Two weeks under canvas with long drop toilets and army ration packs should provide plenty of time for self reflection. :-)