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Gal_gadonutt

This is my biggest gripe at the moment. The daily cases in NSW are almost 3 times the weekly incoming passenger caps. None or single digit cases in hotel quarantine, and we're about to hit 1000 in a few days locally. And these incoming passengers are most likely fully vaccinated. There's 3 people visible in this frame with all them seats available. Fares are unaffordable. Seats unallocated. Fucking treat fully vaxxed incoming passengers the same as local close contacts and let them home quarantine. Lower the fares and Bring Aussies and families home. What is the point in this insane travel caps anymore? I can't fucking wrap my head around it. So fucking annoying and inhumane.


dogeSUPERNOVA

I hear ya, I'm double AZ vaxed, PCR tested (a requirement to board the flight). Taiwan has very low case numbers. I'm a very low risk traveler, I fully expect to be treated like a leper when I land. But that's ok, I'll just be happy to be home.


ramence

Hey mate, I just went through a similar thing. If it's any consolation, while there's a lot of personnel - police, ADF, medical, airport, etc - they were all very kind and warm. You're still treated like a leper (I mean, you're going into HQ), but like... nicely, haha. I was really thankful for this, because I was pretty fragile after the INCREDIBLE stress of actually getting into Australia. It does feel weird as fuck to be arguably one of the lowest possible risk people in NSW (double vaxxed, recent negative PCR test, arriving on a near-empty plane) treated as the highest possible risk, though.


garyfugazigary

same here,everybody was friendly especially to my son who was 10,the biggest moan for me (though i understand )was the constant same questions from everybody


Gal_gadonutt

Do you mind me asking how much your flight cost if you're the only one on the plane?


Kkye_Hall

Not speaking for OP, but I have friends that payed nearly 10k each to go home last year. In 2017, I took a return flight to the same destination for less than $500


ramence

Not Taiwan - but I was able to get back into Australia from Canada in July (flights booked in February) for around $2,500 economy, through an extremely capable agent who has literally had news articles written about his efforts getting Aussies home. I got pretty lucky, though. Caps halved literally the day I landed, and flights shot up to approx. $10,000 (some peaked at $30,000). I think they're around $4,000 from Canada in October-December atm. Last year they were around the $8,000 - $15,000 mark.


spearosydney

CDG > DXB > SYD = $12k last month


Flyerone

He's not the only one on the plane, he's one of 25 passengers. Dividing the cost of that flight by 25 sounds like a scary amount of money.


Aratahu

Aviation fuel is expensive AF, when you consider how much is needed for those flights. So, yes.


Gal_gadonutt

He said in another comment on this post somewhere that he was infact the only passenger on the plane. The title doesn't make it clear but he meant to say there's a 25 passenger limit per flight and in this case, he was the only one.


dogeSUPERNOVA

I was the only person up the back of the plane, there were 25 passengers in total, sorry for the confusion.


dfranks44

I booked my family of six on American for just under 10k at the end of May for an end of July flight. That was before the caps were halved though.


Lamingtonluv

You are arriving back to a leper colony in lockdown. Stay safe:)


[deleted]

You’ve got: LEPROSY. That sucks mate. Hope you can get home soon.


GongGong13

Hi, fellow expat trying to get home. Did you fly EVA? I heard they cancel a lot.


dogeSUPERNOVA

The flight was with China Airlines.


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ramence

100% this. As an Aussie who lives overseas, I was shaken by how very little my citizenship meant. I've gone through some pretty extreme emotions about this, but have settled on resignation. My Aussie passport is worthless - I'm functionally stateless. I've applied for permanent residency in Canada, and am applying for NZ citizenship through my mother (while NZ is also hard to get into, it at least has a queuing system which means entry isn't restricted to the rich and well-connected). If Australia is unwilling to repatriate its citizenry during COVID-19, what happens if there's a more deadly virus? Global war? Etc? No chance. My career necessitates that I spend a lot of time overseas, and I need to feel secure in my ability to return 'home'. I really don't understand how more Australians aren't hugely concerned about this.


[deleted]

Mate as someone who was an expat for many years, I'm not gonna mince words here, just do it. The entire psyche of this country has completely changed in the last 18 months into a paranoid hermit country. The selfish, craven, and bitter have taken over. It has exposed that the populace has no understanding at all of enlightenment principles like rights of citizenship etc and lawful institutions to hold up trust and cooperation in society. This is a medieval country blessed with temporary wealth, and we are just an Anglo Saudi Arabia. If there's a pathway for overseas residency for you definitely take it, you'll be better off in the coming decades. For a great deal of your "countrymen" deep down think "why you bastard shouldn't have left Australia innit? You think you better than the rest of us, now u got yours". Go and don't look back, if I have the chance to do myself so I will too.


[deleted]

Well said. It's how many of us feel.


justgord

it still means something to __us__. Don't let the cunts wear you down - they are a minority, even if they currently have amassed power.


vacheron

So you will give up Australian citizenship over NZ or Canadian? I would have thought Australian passport held more power over NZ and about the same as Canada?


ramence

What do you mean by 'more power'? I don't have to give up anything - you're allowed multiple citizenships in NZ, Canada, and Australia. I just want to have a country I know will let me back in if things go to shit (i.e., not Australia)


noahsozark

Exactly it's not one or the other


hoilst

I get mocked for shitting on cultural cringe, but this is exactly why we need to fight it. The idea that we're not Australians, but merely temporarily-embarrassed foreigners, contributes heavily to this.


mmmoctopie

You capture my feelings on this exactly. Literally before I read your comment I thought about applying for a green card even though on every metric (double taxation etc) it makes no sense. I used to view citizenship as hard and fast absolute - But the past 18 months it has been hard to convey how expendable Australian citizenship and being Australian has felt.


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ramence

> Because the vast majority of Australians would agree that prioritizing the 25M people who live within Australia over the 310k expats was the right call. This is always the answer I get, and it's a false dichotomy. No one stranded overseas has asked to just waltz into the country, restriction-free, licking babies and the elderly. The right call was implementing appropriate quarantine infrastructure and a reasonable repatriation policy (e.g., the queuing system, like in NZ - not the biggest-wallet-wins gong show we have). > but compromises had to be made. But they didn't. The 'compromise' they did end up making wasn't in service of protecting you - it was in service of not spending money. You come from a country willing to jettison several hundred thousand citizens, in a global crisis, to avoid what would amount to an insignificant expenditure. You should be concerned.


mmmoctopie

This. One thousand times this. The response was maliciously political.


SalvageCorveteCont

To be fair, if the rest of the world had locked down properly by the time the Liberals started breaking ground on any dedicated quarantine facility this should have all been over, but Trump politicized things and here we are.


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exidy

But the government didn't look after the majority. They shovelled [$4.6 billion dollars in extra profits](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-22/4-6bn-in-jobkeeper-went-to-businesses-increased-turnover/100316010) to their mates in big business while doing everything possible to avoid supporting Victorian citizens in lockdown in 2020. They stacked a covid recovery commission with fossil fuel business leaders who concluded the best way out of covid was to [build a gas pipeline](https://reneweconomy.com.au/covid-commissions-gas-plans-evoke-outrage-from-environmental-groups-67834/). They [penny-pinched on Pfizer](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/10/stuffed-how-australias-unconscionable-gamble-on-covid-vaccines-backfired) in favour of the cheaper AstraZeneca. The idea that there was some kind of balance to be struck, that expats were just an unfortunate victim of a government trying desperately to do the best by the most is nonsense.


exidy

> it was in service of not spending money They needed to save it to give to Gerry Harvey.


ElasticLama

I’m a kiwi who’s lived here for 15 years. Can finally apply for PR, really not keen on it so that’s how crocked it is. I agree it would have been insane to just let in boatloads of people all at once with no plan, but we have dozens of facilities like military bases that apparently just can’t be used 🙄plus the joke of not letting people leave including dual nationals


mons16

100%. A disgrace.


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exidy

You are expected to file a flight plan and request landing permission. You could theoretically rock up, declare a fuel emergency and land, but I can't imagine that would go well for the pilot.


vacheron

I absolutely agree with you. What alarms me is even having a bill of rights in clear black and white does not always mean we are protected, we see Americans having their rights trampled by their police all over YouTube.


UhUhWaitForTheCream

I agree. Time to open up to fully vaccinated people who test negative. No quarantine


deanoau

I [said this weeks ago and was downvoted to buggery](https://reddit.com/r/CoronavirusDownunder/comments/ouadgw/with_sydney_in_hard_lockdown_and_the_virus_out_of/)


iAmAGoodPerson2021

Back when NSW was getting 870 cases per week lol, now it’s almost the same per day


Dreamcatchertabbycat

100% agree. No point to the strict travel caps for NSW. Maybe other states with small outbreaks and covid zero yes. But NSW, no point. Anyway they were taking the lions share of incoming passengers anyway....so if they were lifted it would make a difference.


Zealousideal-Tax-625

Very true - it's just a bunch of scared politicians worried about taking risk. Why should they take that very small risk of you bringing covid in? Vaccinated or not they really don't care about you. Majority of Aussies are in Australia. They get to keep their job because of the majority. So instead of doing the right thing and take 0.01% risk by bringing you and other vaccinated Aussies back home, they'd rather take a 0% risk.


[deleted]

HQ was supposed to protect the community. That has clearly failed.


dfranks44

Just came in with my family of six from LA to Sydney, to HQ, to Melbourne and everyone I've even looked at has been super kind and helpful. But I sure as hell made sure I had every single piece of paperwork, tests, wrist bands, and vaccinations ready when I was supposed to have them presented.


Thrawn7

There's Delta Plus and Lambda strains out there which is even worse than Delta..


[deleted]

Ok but there are other variants doing damage right now. It's not the same type of covid. I don't think now is the best time to ship in potential positive cases who have Lambda EDIT: downvotes lol, this sub acts on emotion and no rational basis. Sorry to spoil the party with a truth. If we can't handle Delta with lockdowns, we're fucked with anything worse lmao


[deleted]

This is a really good point. Hopefully some of the reporters will start asking the same questions of our leaders.


aussie_nobody

Think of all the health resources they could then throw at our own pandemic as opposed to guarding people.


ArcticKnight79

100% we should be bringing anyone who is willing to ride out the lockdown instead of overseas home without half the precautions. Then those who want to return to their home states or can't sit through Sydney lockdown. Can take the place in the now less in demand HQ. If Victoria goes tit's up (looking increasingly likely) you could do the same for them. Then you just institute massive fines for leaving the state you returned to without permission from the state you are travelling to. Like 30-40k, reason being that the cost of staying overseas may be large enough that a $10k fine for coming over and then flaunting the rules to sneak into WA and then fucking them over needs to be high enough to deincentivise that behaviour. Since we'd be flying lots in at once you'd have the perk of cheaper flights. Given that most of the population is centred in NSW and VIC, we'd be well positioned to take a huge amount of burden off the Quarantine system. In vic the biggest issuee might be adding them to the rest of the contact tracting quarantine checks. (Though I will admit I figure NSW has gotten to the point where it's too large to actually check everyone in quarantine anymore)


Wehavecrashed

If you're still over seas at this point that's on you. You were told to come home more than a year ago.


Gal_gadonutt

Yes ofcourse. And are you sending the atleast $10k - $15k+ required for the airfare and also another $4k for the quarantine upon landing here? Forgot that all of us are just able to throw that money on a whim. Stupid peasants aye.


therealsassman

Welcome home mate


Crazy_Cat_Lady360

Glad that you have been able to make it home. Enjoy your flight and quarantine. Happy landing.


dogeSUPERNOVA

I am extremely fortunate to get the seat, it's been heartbreaking locked out of my home for so long.


Zealousideal-Tax-625

Sorry you had to face that...it is very heartbreaking indeed. Glad you made it back. Goodluck in hotel quarantine!✌️


ramence

I went through exactly what you went through. While I was delighted to see my friends and family after 2 years, the experience has left me with a mistrust of and resentment towards Australia that I imagine will be lifelong.


mmmoctopie

Seriously are you in my mind? This is the third comment I’m shaking my head in violent agreement from you.


ramence

Haha! I guess being ghosted by your own homeland is a unifying experience. I was a little heated and went on a bit of a comment rampage in here.


Tuggpocalypso

Welcome back, Mr. Dutton.


dogeSUPERNOVA

Lol, at least I've got eyebrows.


Tuggpocalypso

Haha. And a soul. Welcome home, mate.


nostraduckus

Glad you can make it home safely, but man...what a waste of fuel 😬


mjp80

The belly of that plane will be full of cargo, though. Even more than usual, due to 10 tonnes less of passengers.


nostraduckus

Oh that's good at least


Gal_gadonutt

Jesus christ how far apart are they spreading the passengers if there's a total of 25 and only 3 are in this frame?


dogeSUPERNOVA

The 2 others you can see in frame in full PPE are flight attendants. I had the whole rear of the plane to myself. The 25 person cap per flight is utterly ridiculous, it makes getting a seat extremely difficult.


SimonGn

careful now, you might bring Delta strain back and get through your Mask, Double Vax and Quarantine, not like we don't already have Delta anyway, or had 18 months to learn or do anything /s


pharmaboythefirst

Wow - should be a full plane and no need to quarantine - just self isolate. Taiwan is still well under control , and a far lower risk than wandering around sydney. We really need a more discriminatory quarantine system, especially now, when cases mean so little (at least for sydney)


hu_he

>a more discriminatory quarantine system Smart discriminatory (hotel for travellers from high risk countries and/or unvaxxed, home for the rest) not stupid discriminatory (only a few thousand total nationwide each week).


LostOracle

I'd agree with that while we have high local cases. But if/when we get to zero, strict quarantine is important as it only takes one case sneaking through


hu_he

We will get the nation to 80% vaxxed before Sydney or Melbourne gets to 0 cases, I suspect. Modelling by u/chrisjbillington suggests Nov 16 for the vaccination target.


echowomb

Yeah but even then they're gonna want to be careful about case numbers from quarantine hense the building of facilities even now knowing that we're only a few months off the Vax rate. Strict quarantine checks still makes a lot of sense imo outside of NSW but in all states could be better targeted, as you said.


Dangerman1967

This is good and bad news. Good for you and welcome home. Bad for the hundreds of other passengers that missed the flight. /s


dogeSUPERNOVA

The caps should have been temporary, however after 18 months more restrictions have been added. All Aussies should be able to travel home freely and ofcourse quarantine if necessary.


Dangerman1967

Especially now into Vic or NSW with home quarantine. Some of us are actually happy that the numbers in Vic aren’t dropping. It’s finally gonna force the governments hand. There, I said it. Now death by reddit.


dogeSUPERNOVA

I know my opinion on this is not popular but anyone with a brain can see 0 covid is untenable. Its unfortunate but we will need to learn to live with covid, that meaning ongoing restrictions are necessary. Locking down should only be a last resort.


Dangerman1967

Well you’ve dodged most of it. You’re flying back to a country that’s starting to think along those lines.


ClarktheHunter11

How would we know? We never really tried!The only thing that is untenable is the current sitting government.


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dogeSUPERNOVA

My experience in Taiwan has been different, they use a sliding scale where the number of new cases averaged over a week determines the severity of the restrictions/lockdown. While the restrictions in Taiwan have been very strict for a while the outbreaks have been controlled, and so far there have been no hard lockdowns. IMO lockdowns should be a last resort, not an initial response. Hard lockdowns cost huge sums of money, I think there could be a more measured response.


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dogeSUPERNOVA

Most of the western world thinks Australia with its 0 covid at any cost is madness. I can only speak from my experience, however, I tend to agree.


156102brux

Where is TPE? I am glad you could finally get home.


dogeSUPERNOVA

TPE is the code for Taipei International Airport in Taoyuan Taiwan.


swinkie71

I'm glad you managed to get a seat.


ZotBattlehero

Welcome home


brittpinkie

Welcome home! Safe travels and happy quarantining :)


Resurectra

Glad you can make it home, although I have to say that Taiwan is much safer at the moment!


postpakAU

Welcome home


Expensive-Object-830

Welcome back! It’s a disgrace how badly expats & Aussies overseas have been treated by Aus Govt. Look after yourself in quarantine & enjoy your time with your loved ones!


TeaLiger

How was the situation in Taiwan? Was there right before we started hearing news of Covid in China. I remember Jiufen was really packed at the time, stark contrast now I bet.


dogeSUPERNOVA

Covid in Taiwan is under control now, that being said there was a large outbreak a few months back. Throughout most of 2020 there was zero covid in Taiwan. Now there is almost no international tourism as only resident and citizens can travel through immigration. Many people working in tourism, education and hospitality have lost jobs. That being said manufacturing and export business is doing quite well.


garyfugazigary

i flew back with my son from London back in May,there was less than that on my plane,only 4 (including us 2 )did the whole journey to Melbourne via Dubai Etihad had the cheek to send me emails before the flight to ask if i wanted to 'buy' other seats so i could have extra room!!


Sorceress35

The whole thing is embarrassing. It’s been 18 months and absolutely nothing has changed, welcome home though.


wobblybootson

Insane. Bonkers that there are a gazillion cases already in Australia, and we don't haul those people with Covid off to quarantine hotels. If you're vaccinated, and you have a recent covid negative test, what is the issue?


shshapq

Welcome back! Have always loved China Airlines’ livery - how was your whole experience?


dogeSUPERNOVA

So far, so good!


Hoisttheflagofstars

Friends of mine recently came home from living and working in Europe. The flight had 6 people. Including 1 child and 1 baby. Seems insane to me.


infinitegodess

Welcome to Eternal Lockdown.


bokbik

Easier to become a fly attendant then fly home


stilusmobilus

Welcome home mate.


whitetealily

Welcome home!!!!


Anli0

Welcome home! I'm happy that you were able to secure a flight home! Please do update us of the experience from when you get off the flight and into hotel quarantine (and maybe even some tips to help other stranded Aussies come home)! I'd love to hear more about it :)


Chief-_-Wiggum

Welcome home.. Mate did the same flight the week before the caps got halved... he did his Q in Melb then had to run the gauntlet back to Sydney in the middle of the outbreak. For those with double vac records.. there should be an INCREASE in cap for them. This protects the population AND actively encourages vaccinations to anyone that wants to travel in an out of Australia. While as a i'm not against travel restrictions at all.. it should be done with some intelligence. This unfortunately for all levels of government and parties seems a leap too far.


[deleted]

Safe travels! 😎


kangarool

Hope the flight attendants stood 1.5 metres from you and literally tossed you your mini-bottles of in-flight drinks and stale pretzels every time you pressed the call button. "YO I'M RUNNIN' DRY HERE!!"


afiyet_olsun

Welcome home!


MBitesss

Welcome home! Hope it isn’t too long until we’re out of lockdown so you can properly enjoy being home!


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reignfx

I think the plane put him there. I have a friend who travelled home a few months ago sitting in an exit row and I asked him the same thing, that’s what he told me.


emdeexo

Welcome home, I'm sure most people will be super nice, and your hotel will be nice. I mostly hear good things from friends who've been through the hotel quarantine. Taiwan has been smashing COVID, even Delta.... they are probably the country that Australia and NZ are trying to copy... they have a Central Epidemic Command Centre (CECC) that can bascially can take national control over all covid responses.


After-Economics1987

Unbelievable, Qantas CEO said that the airplane air because filtered it’s 7 times more clean that air on the planet and that 1.5 mt distance is more that enough to keep somebody safe if they wear the mask for the entire fly. Apparently some air fly company uses the rule: 1 person every 4 square meter….


lateralspin

At least some flights are still operating.


HotPersimessage62

Welcome back. Labor is leading in the federal Newspoll FYI. Nothing much has changed, you might see a new building or two on the Melbourne skyline.


giacintam

i hate that its taken you this long, but im so glad youre finally coming home. of all the disgusting things this government has done the past 18 months, leaving CITIZENS stranded overseas & retrieving them at a snails pace, has got to be top 3.


plutoforprez

Welcome home bud, sorry it took so long.


newbornbabyistoougly

You home yet? Hope all goes well for you.


[deleted]

I remember catching planes, travelling, exploring! Golden days.


lala1237890

Welcome home mate! Out of curiosity, how was your 18 mths covid journey in a foreign country which speak little English like Taiwan?


mrwellfed

WTF is TPE?


[deleted]

Why'd you flip the image?


dogeSUPERNOVA

Uploading from mobile, dunno why it flipped.


Chucky1100

As long as you bring nothing back with you.


[deleted]

Is this even necessary to say? Why try and put a dampener on someone’s homecoming.


Chucky1100

Yes it is necessary to say


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dogeSUPERNOVA

I am wearing a 😷


Dangerman1967

I thought exactly this! First time I can ever recall seeing it happen.