December 3 When an Australian family of four stranded overseas due to the pandemic was very happy to find that they could book a ticket, and the Australian government also promised that they would stay in isolation for 14 days after arrival. However, they were later told that they would face a bill of 5,000 Australian dollars.
The Guardian reported on the 3rd that some Australians stranded overseas were told that if they booked a ticket to Darwin before July 13, the quarantine fee would be free, but after returning home, the free treatment of “Howard Springs isolation point” would not apply.
An Australian family of four was cheated by this “regulation”. They had originally booked a ticket before July 13, but were told by Sydney Airlines that the flight was cancelled. The four had to stay in Italy for five months, and the airline changed their sign-in to December 12, but it would cost at least 8,000 Australian dollars to leave Frankfurt, Germany. Not only that, they were told to pay a 14-day quarantine fee of 5,000 Australian dollars upon arrival in Australia.
The mother of the family of four said that it would cost at least 13,000 Australian dollars to return home after being detained for five months, which was unfair and she could not afford it. She had to refuse to return to China and stay. They asked the media to report anonymously for fear that it would be blacklisted by the Australian Foreign Affairs and Trade Department in the future.
The Guardian said that Australian government officials were not prepared to evacuate passengers on the return flight. Many of these people had booked tickets in advance but were forced to postpone or delay, and they should be eligible for free hotel quarantine. An estimated 36,000 Australians are currently stranded overseas, and only a small number of them have been arranged for repatriation flights.
