The following text was forwarded to a Labor Senator to point out some simple maths involved in the matter of stranded Australians. The figures are accompanied by a commentary on the situation that seems to get buried in spin and neglected by those who should care.
17 January 2021
Senator
The matter of numbers of Australian citizens left stranded overseas by the Australian government is something you have commented upon, (thank you), but the government never accepts any responsibility for this mess. We were a part of it and know the frustrations. From July 2020 when reports stated that there were 18,500 left stranded by the government’s decisions, and after we had received news of our first cancellation, I have repeatedly given the government the calculations that show that, if nothing different is done, then it could take well into 2022 before all of these folk can get home.
Of course, the arrogance of this government is such that no communication was ever responded to, and nothing different was done, until it felt pressure from time to time, and put out a media release promising anything as a distraction – a few extra numbers; a few special flights; promised numbers home by Christmas, etc. In spite of this, the numbers simply grew to something between 37,500 and 40,000. While the government must know the statistics precisely, the figures made public are always very confusing, muddling the numbers that are returning or arriving from circumstances where they were not ‘stranded,’ with those trickling in from the stranded group. We saw this confusion in the PM’s claim that he achieved more than twice his promise to get 26,000, (he actually promised 29,000), home by Christmas. If this statistic had really been more than 50,000 ‘stranded’ Australians, we would no longer have a problem; but we do.
Now that the criticism is starting to bite yet again as tennis players and their support teams arrive, and Emirates has stopped flights, (why did it take so long?),# the government has done what it has been doing all along – it throws out a few words promising extra flights, as if this might solve everything. As has been shown previously, even with extra flights, the problem remains. The government is merely nibbling at the edges, pretending it has a solution when things remain a shambles.
The Qantas Dreamliner has been used for the rescue flights. This plane has 166 Economy Class seats, 28 Premium Economy Class seats, and 42 Business Class seats. Assuming that Qantas is able to sell all of the seats, one flight can carry 236 people. (We were offered Business Class seats at $8,800 each - bring your own food and water; no in-flight entertainment; no seat choice; no points: some ‘assistance’!) The government has promised 20 extra flights in the next two months. This means that 4,720 ‘stranded’ Australians would get home over a period of eight weeks, leaving over 32,000 still stranded – possibly 35,000. With this strategy, with the government continuing with this ‘solution,’ it will take at least 7 sets of ‘twenty flights every two months’ to get the remaining folk home – that is 14 months, taking the time into May 2022. This is yet another smoke screen put up by the government.
The government needs a plan to address this mess that it is only aggravating with its carelessness and spin. If it had acted back in July 2020 when the problem was first made clear, the issue could have been properly managed. Instead, the government played a game of blame, suggesting that it was the fault of those who didn’t come home when told: “Naughty children!” The government’s belligerence is encouraged by the resident population that seems to hold the opinion that these folk overseas will only bring the virus into Australia, preferring to leave them where they are: “Serves them right!” It is a circumstance that lacks any of the national ambition of Dunkirk, or the grace exhibited in the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, (which our PM must know?)
These calculations of course, assume that the number stranded will not increase. Sadly it has only ever done this, meaning that the impact of the emergency flights will be watered down, with the concerns increasing, along with the time scale: dare one mention 2023? The situation is truly dire. That any government could treat its citizens like this is an insult. The problem is not helped by the media that seems more interested in personal stories, rather than government incompetence, carelessness, and failures, preferring the titillations of lifestyle dramas, traumas, and intimacies to be headlined.
This problem of stranded citizens has to be addressed head-on, with an intent to have it solved – to get these folk home without further procrastination. The government must talk to the airlines, and it must develop a variety of strategies for quarantine. Whether working with the States or not, action is needed rather than buck passing. We have experienced the inhumanity of hotel quarantine which seems more like something Corrective Services devised rather than a Health Department. There was no fresh air; we were never allowed outside the bedroom door for exercise or sunlight; there was no balcony or opening window; the ‘no-choice’ food dropped outside of our door was terrible – see: https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2021/01/quarantine-cuisine-photographic-diary.html; and https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-quarantine-room-analysis.html: and the air conditioning kept spewing out a very fine mystery ‘dust.’ It was far from healthy: all this in spite of our clear plan for home quarantine, a proposition that was ignored.
One might have thought that Anthony Albanese might have grasped the matter and hammered the PM, as he likes to be seen as a ‘people’s man,’ but sadly, even he ignored my communications. The Labor Party needs a leader. It should be made clear to all that the government has failed in its duty to its citizens. The cry at elections is that the elected government will govern for all Australians. We need to make it do this because it is currently indulging in its own glorious visions of power without a thought for those Australians wanting to get home until the politics gets edgy.
Perhaps one can be thankful for the honest advice given to us by a DFAT officer in London: “Don’t rely on the government to get you home.” The message should be made loud and clear to all stranded Australians, because the government, to its shame, is always trying to pretend otherwise.
Your message has been forwarded to the Senator/Member.
Unfortunately, this communication remains unacknowledged. It seems that few politicians care about the situation where a country leaves its citizens in limbo while the High Commissioner from London and those involved in the Australian Open are able to travel freely.
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NOTE
13 FEBRUARY 2021
NOTE
The numbers continue to be dodgy. Just yesterday the PM boasted that 230,000 people had gone through hotel quarantine since it had started, and that there had been only a few cases of Covid coming from this source. He was arguing for hotel quarantine to continue, even though Victoria had just had a serious outbreak of the UK version of the virus: the Premier had closed the state down.
Now let’s look at the calculations; even without being exact, hotel quarantine started in July 2020. It is now mid-February 2021. This is approximately 32 weeks. Over this period, the numbers allowed into Australia have varied, but if we are generous, and say that 6,000 a week have entered the country, (it is currently 6,300, but has been much lower at times), then the total number that has entered the country and gone into hotel quarantine, (there are very few exceptions – mainly star performers), is something like, on average, 192,000. How does the PM get 230,000? We must remember that this is ‘Scott from marketing’; perhaps he is using the skills he learned before he moved into politics, to sell a flawed idea that he prefers?
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