Only allowing stranded Australians home on compassionate grounds would undermine the core rights of citizenship
Posted
ThuThursday 18
updated
ThuThursday 18
Being able to return to your home country is one of the basics of citizenship.
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As the COVID-19 crisis continues, 40,000 stranded Australians are still trying to return home from overseas.
They could be forgiven for feeling as though they are being treated like refugees by their own country.
Like the millions of genuine refugees worldwide, they are experiencing first-hand the harsh reality of strictly enforced international borders.
Recent remarks by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews would only reinforce the sense that their country has forsaken them.
Successfully piloting turbulence in pandemic-disrupted careers
By Wendy Tuohy
Victoria Lowen is something of a poster woman for the need to adjust careers fast and dramatically during the disruption of COVID-19.
As news of the virus began to ripple through the Australian travel and tourism industry in early 2020, she realised âthe writing was on the wallâ for her job security as a pilot.
For Victoria Lowen, pandemic career disruption meant going from flying for Qantas to being employed at quarantine hotels.
Credit:Justin McManus
By early March, Ms Lowen could see that being in one of the first sectors to be smashed by the pandemic meant she would need to put aside her dream career of flying Qantas passengers from Australia to Europe, the US and South America, at least temporarily.
Vulnerable Australians being left behind amid scramble for seats on coronavirus repatriation flights
WedWednesday 27
updated
WedWednesday 27
JanJanuary 2021 at 8:14am
Vulnerable Australians stuck overseas, like Kate Monroe (left) and Simone Platovnjak (right), have missed out on repatriation flights despite being told they are first in line to get home.
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Frustration is growing among Australians stranded overseas who say they have been forced into a Hunger Games-style scramble for repatriation flights that is leaving vulnerable cases behind.
Key points:
Of the 39,000 Australians currently stranded overseas, approximately 5,000 are listed as vulnerable
Despite being told they would be first in line to get a seat on a repatriation flight, many have continued to miss out