Expats not asking for a free ride, we just want to come home – Sydney Morning Herald

In my case, I have lived in London since the beginning of 2019, having moved to begin a new career at a marketing firm. The pandemic struck just weeks after I had signed a new lease that locked me in until the beginning of August. Returning home would have rendered me unemployed and unable to pay the rent I was obligated to keep paying, so I opted to book flights for early August.
For myself, and others, the past four months have been a period of immense stress as we pack up our lives; navigating disgruntled landlords and waiting out notice periods at work. It is a moment of extreme vulnerability for returning expatriates: terms of employment are coming to an end and many no longer have a secure place to live. Yet it is at this moment they are thrust in the dire prospect of multiple flight cancellations due to the action of the Australian government.
James Mort had just signed a new lease in London when the pandemic struck.
The ability for citizens to return to their country is a fundamental human right. The exile of citizens is an act undertaken by only the worst regimes. Yet through restrictions that make it commercially unviable for airlines to fly to Australia, our government is threatening to stray down this path. It does not take a business degree to see that 50 passengers a plane is economically impossible to sustain, even over the short term.
A solution is a further round of repatriation flights for stranded Australians, similar to those scheduled in April, May and June. This way arrivals could be spread out to ensure limits on numbers arent breached. Australians who truly need to return home should have no issue with contributing to the costs of quarantine. Yet at a time where all but a rapidly diminishing handful of operators are offering flights to Australia there is no indication that such a plan is being considered.
Instead, the rhetoric coming from the Australian High Commission to the UK as well as federal and state governments is that for the good of the country expatriates should not return home. It’s little more than an exercise in political point scoring. Through the cap on arrivals, governments can claim to be tough on the virus.
As we have seen in NSW, with a well-managed quarantine and testing program, there is no reason for community transmission stemming from returned expatriates to be anything but zero.
The Australian government must not treat returning Australians as a danger to society. It is time our leaders tackled the virus while also affording Australians the basic right of repatriation. We aren’t asking for a free ride, we just want to make it home.
James Mort is a media professional and freelance writer living in Britain.

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