By all indications the return of stranded Australians around the World will begin. Not the small number of facilitated flights over many months.
Restrictions in the 2 most populated states will have lifted come 1st Nov 2021. The flood gates will open.
As I write this, today is Friday, the 22nd of October 2021. 22 days after the Australian Federal Government announced opening its international borders for entry and exit. Albeit with vaccination and individual states conditions to be met. It was long awaited news.
It means an estimated 45,000 stranded and DFAT registered (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) Australians will begin the journey home. The number does not include those not registered with DFAT.
560 Days
That’s 560 days of closed borders to the World reopening. Days, weeks and months and more than a year filled with uncertainty and anxiety for those stranded.
Plus a range of emotions, split families and unexpected amount of expenses incurred. Including loss of jobs or unable to gain employment due to Covid.
Closed borders also meant thousands of Australians could not travel overseas for good reasons. Work opportunities overseas and family abroad I suppose are the important reasons for travel. On compassionate grounds exceptions were made.
NSW followed shortly after the Federal announcement. And today Victoria announced the opening of its borders. I do not know what will follow after today.
I write this only knowing that to allow the return of stranded Australians home by Christmas is a mammoth commitment and task in view of the sheer numbers involved.
Remember travel declarations need to be processed, state entry permits need to be applied for most states and territories plus arrangements for testing of the incoming including quarantine.
The prelude – did international airlines force the hand of the cabinet?
Just a few days before the Federal announcement, Singapore Airlines, a major incoming airline did a press release. Clearly targeted at the Australian authorities.
That they no longer can work with uncertainty in regard to Australian flights. Australia bound passengers had their flights cancelled repeatedly over many months. The Airline famed for its service and customer care had a point. All Nippon Airways followed suit. Others followed.
They decided they were cancelling most of their scheduled flights and suddenly the small quota became smaller. Qantas or any other Airline could not step into the breach as existing bilateral agreements did not allow it.
Singapore is a major hub for inbound traffic to Australia. Not just for Singapore Airlines but for others as well including BA and Qantas. It is also part of the famed Kangaroo route. I suspect it did force the hand of Cabinet to move faster.
There were however repatriation flights called “facilitated flights” for those who were deemed by DFAT as vulnerable. Families with young children and those with medical conditions. These were carried out over many months but the overall number of stranded Australians remained high, in the thousands.
Speculating times
Shortly after the Federal announcement on 1 Oct 2021, something else reverberated around the World.
International Airlines began cancelling long booked flights into Australia across the board. Flight-buying websites like Skyscanner and Kayak showed empty for flights into Australia for the next few days.
It was unprecedented. It was also eerie to see lack of flights across the board going into Australia. Even flights booked long before were cancelled.
Maybe the Airlines needed time to rework the flights focusing on Sydney and Melbourne and to optimise capacity with the lifted restrictions. So we ended up being off the map for few days.
Zero tolerance
The zero tolerance policy long held by many countries began crumbling by the 2nd quarter of 2021. It became increasingly evident that vaccination reduced hospitalisation by 90% or more and led to much fewer deaths but transmission continued.
Those vaccinated, the majority when infected were either asymptomatic or suffered a mild form of the infection. No need to even see the doctor. We realised we could live with it or had to live with it. The new norm.
The Federal Government realised this faster than the States and pushed for faster vaccination rate.
Some of these states managed to stop or reduce the transmission rate early with great success. A sense of lull had set in. The vaccination rate became secondary and took a relatively slower pace.
One irony stood out. Lifting the restrictions on overseas travel to other countries but not to other States within Australia.
So someone could fly to Singapore, London, the US but could not fly to South Australia, Western Australia etc. They needed to apply for state travel permits.
Did we get it wrong policy wise?
The first indication of a policy change was in early September 2021 from no less than the Prime Minister. The zero tolerance policy was no longer viable. The earlier predicted April 2022 timeframe to open up was out.
Australia and New Zealand always had one of the toughest quarantine polices of any country well before Covid. Partly due to quarantine legacy of both nations in stopping invasive plants and animals entering the country. A lesson learnt over 2 centuries.
Though much of the World were surprised by the strict border closure in March 2020, I guess we expected it. And what an invasive and damaging specie Covid turned out to be, ravaging the World.
I took the initial travel restrictions as necessary and it did serve us well. States and territories were able to return to normalcy fast. The odd occasional lockdowns and restrictions did come in while many countries struggled.
But the consequences were harsh.
First the stranded Australians as the months went by. Second those in Australia could not travel interstate or overseas for work opportunities and family reasons. Exceptions made for essential work and on compassionate grounds did provide relief.
For some reason the plight of the overseas stranded Australians did not register nationally or even politically. I suspect the underlying concern were more along the lines that stranded Australians were potential agents of transmission.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing
Maybe there should have been a concerted effort by the Federal and State Government to have done more for those stranded.
The way station concept at Christmas Island or Darwin or elsewhere should have been followed through. Howard Springs Quarantine Facility when it eventuated was a drop in the ocean.
Qantas – I still call Australia home
Many years ago, Qantas ran a series of highly popular series of advertisement called “I still call Australia home” after Peter Allen’s song of 1980.
Those ads were popular, expensive and world class. It was also emotional and tugged at your heart. We were proud of Qantas, and the flying kangaroo was the icon of the nation.
That theme and mantra were wholly absent when Covid struck and when it was needed most.
Qantas flight booking were only available to those who had frequent flyer points. It did not matter if your points had expired or that you had lifetime membership because of your past custom. Citizenship did not play a part.
To make matter worse they were hawking insurance that came with points. I wonder how many purchased it to get points in order to book flights home. I thought it was insensitive.
Vaccines and vaccination rate
Some countries did better than others in acquiring them. UAE , Singapore and the UK acted quickly to secure supplies. Despite the bitter dispute between nation states particularly in Europe to secure supplies.
Both UAE and Singapore by end of September 2021 had the highest vaccination rates in the World ranked one and two. So did we drop the ball?
Both Australia and New Zealand were clearly lulled into a sense of confidence over their respective island fortress.
In August 2021, Australia, hat in hand borrowed 500,000 doses of Pfizer from tiny Singapore. A loan to be returned 4 months later. It was sensible and right.
I am sure these helped push the vaccination rate to 80% for NSW and Victoria. Allowing them to open their borders earlier, and for the PM to make the announcement on 1st Oct.
We could have done better I suppose.
New Zealand in particular, a World success story for the first 20 months began to feel the pain as their vaccinations rate was well below par. We were slightly better.
In December last year, I did write a post on how we dealing with Covid. Here it is.
This post covers the thousands of stranded Australians as I do feel for them and their families.
The return of stranded Australians should have been a clear target with more quarantine facilities setup. When the numbers did not move, Parliament should have stepped in. Liberals, Labor, Greens and all others remained quiet.
As I pen this , the return of the stranded Australians has begun. It is time to bring our people home with or without Qantas.
One thing is clear, Australia and New Zealand acted decisively and early and that saved thousands of lives. I do not take this for granted. We are still much better off than most countries including amongst our developed compatriots.