On March 17 2020, the WHO declared that COVID-19 was a global pandemic.
In July 2020, driven by a 24/7 media cycle, a fearful public and political agendas, the Australian Government actively prevented its citizens and permanent residents returning home from overseas by capping the numbers of passengers allowed on international flights. Australia was the only country in the world to take such a drastic step and lock its own citizens out during a global emergency. Hundreds of thousands of Australians were stranded overseas, and the Australian government only allowed 30 people per international flight to enter the country.
If – by some miracle – we did manage to get home, we were detained in hotels for 14 days. We were not allowed fresh air or human contact apart from the health staff who tested us for COVID on Day 2 and Day 12. We were charged $3,000 for our own detention. The quarantine fee was introduced at the same time as international flight caps. Australians locked out of their own states or territories were also forced into hotel quarantine.
This podcast has come about because of the wonderful people in the Australians Challenging Quarantine Fees (https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengethefee) Facebook group. The world seems to have moved on, but we are still traumatised by the Australian government's response to the pandemic. And we are still getting invoices for the quarantine fee.
These are our stories because we must Never Forget What They Did.
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Andrea – a Queenslander – and her husband had taken their two youngest sons to Germany (the country where she was born) in early 2019, and was there when the pandemic was declared in March 2020. While she stayed in Germany with her sons, her husband returned to Queensland to be near their oldest son, who was in university and to look after his business interests, but was back and forward between Australia and Europe. Deciding it was better to stay put in Germany, it was in March 2021 that Andrea had no choice but to come back to Australia with her middle son. Her husband had passed away suddenly five weeks after volunteering to complete hotel quarantine with her youngest son, who had wanted to come home in January. She didn't get back until June 2021. This is Andrea's story.
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9 Apr 2023
Peter's Story
Peter was in south-west China when the pandemic was declared, on a regular business trip and visiting his wife's family. Already experiencing lockdowns in China from early 2020 even before the pandemic was declared, Peter heeded the early advice from the Morrison government to shelter in place. Arriving in China in January 2020 and booked to return to Australia in July 2020, and likening the pandemic to SARS which was over in a few months, Peter didn't think it would take him, his wife and daughter 18 months to get home. Exiting China was a fraught exercise, and the deteriorating relationship between China and Australia adding to the complexity. And once he did get back, his family were forced into hotel quarantine – a nightmare because both he and his daughter suffered from anxiety. This is Peter's story.
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2 Apr 2023
Raewyn's Story
A Kiwi, but now back in New Zealand, Raewyn was living in Victoria with her husband when the pandemic was declared. With most of her family in New Zealand, including parents and children, being able to leave Australia quickly was a concern. Towards the end of 2020, and between work contracts, Raewyn decided to return to New Zealand, but because of the flight caps, she didn't get there until May 2021. Worried that Australia would close its borders to New Zealand – she felt she had no choice but to go and she ended up being stuck for eight months. To return to Victoria, she flew into Brisbane where she was forced into hotel quarantine. This is Raewyn's story.
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26 Mar 2023
Daniel's Story
With business interests that takes him all over the world, Daniel found himself stuck in Zambia in August 2021, trying to get back home to Perth, Western Australia. Unfortunately for him, he was impacted by not only Australia's international flights caps, but also the "South African" variant that was scaring governments and public health officials around the globe. Exiting Zambia via Johannesburg in October, after the restrictions around South Africa relaxed, Daniel then had to fly to Brisbane. But with borders firmly closed between states and territories, he found himself caught in the bureaucratic nightmare that was Western Australia's G2G pass and COVID testing. This is Daniel's story.
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19 Mar 2023
Judy's Story
Judy and her partner, a Kiwi, moved to New Zealand in November 2019. With family in both countries it was their intention to go back and forth between the two. Stuck in New Zealand in 2020 when the pandemic was declared, she rode out it out there, not anticipating it would go on for as long as it did. It wasn't until 2021 when New Zealand and Australia established a travel bubble, and her partner had come back to Australia for work, that Judy attempted to return. She packed up her home and gave up her job in anticipation of the bubble staying open. It didn't. This is Judy's story.
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12 Mar 2023
Carl's Story
Carl had been living in the UK since 2005 but came back to Australia regularly to visit his mother – who lives in Queensland – and to take care of his tenanted property. When his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer in July 2020, he scrambled to get home. While he found a flight back, the Queensland government refused him entry because his mother's impending death wasn't "a sufficient reason". Fast forward a year, and the Queensland government permitted his entry because his property needed repair and it satisfied their "financial need" criteria. And then the horrors of hotel quarantine. This is Carl's story.
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5 Mar 2023
Kerry's Story
Kerry had been working in Singapore since 2017 — her first experience as an expat. By 2020, she was feeling homesick and lonely so she returned to Melbourne for six weeks in February, just before the pandemic was declared by the WHO. Returning to Singapore in July because she still had work commitments, Kerry tried to return to Australia in December 2020 to see her ill father. He sadly passed away in January 2021. Still reeling from the death of her father, she received news in April that her ex-husband had passed away. With the Singapore project transitioning back to Australia, the soonest Kerry could return to Melbourne was May.On arrival, she was forced into the sanctioned torture that was hotel quarantine. This is Kerry's story.
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26 Feb 2023
Mary and Cubby's Story
Since 2014, retirees Mary and Cubby have been staying in their family apartment on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, spending five months of the year in the UK. They were there when the pandemic was declared. Being in a vulnerable group, they decided it was safer to stay put than travel. With Cubby's visa expiring, however, it was time return home to Perth, Western Australia – and they had to navigate cancelled flights and the bureaucratic nightmare that was the G2G pass. This is Mary and Cubby's story.
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19 Feb 2023
Stuart's Story
When the pandemic was declared, Stuart was working on a 12 month humanitarian aid contract for Oxfam in wartorn Syria. When his contract ended, he spent the next eight months trying to exit the wartorn country, and return home to Australia. Needing to depressurise after spending 20 months in a warzone and concerned about his financial situation, he found respite in Greece before making his way to the UK. With international flight caps in place and one flight after another cancelled, he eventually secured a repat flight from the UK into Howard Springs, Northern Territory. This is Stuart's story.
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12 Feb 2023
Karen's Story
In late 2019, Karen's two sons were on a routine Christmas visit to see their father in rural Canada. In 2020, the world shut down, and, as unaccompanied minors, it was impossible for Karen to get her boys back to Australia. They were only allowed to do one international flight on their own. It was only through the kindness of a stranger, who offered to accompany her sons from Montreal and through Los Angeles, that she was reunited with them 11 months later. This is Karen's story.
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5 Feb 2023
Diane's Story
In November 2019, having decided to return to Australia from Vietnam with her cat, Diane knew that it was a six month process because of Australia's strict quarantine regulations. She started the process well in advance, and then there was a double whammy: Malaysia was removed as a through country in February 2020 and the pandemic was declared in March. Not only was it a challenge to get her cat out of Hanoi, the Australian government had locked out its citizens, making Diane's repatriation almost impossible. Even so, she refused to leave her cat behind. This is Diane's story.
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12 Jan 2023
Never Forget What They Did Trailer
In this podcast, we deep dive into the personal stories of people impacted by the Australian government's response to the covid-19 pandemic.
What was it really like trying to get home during a global emergency when our government abandoned us, and what happened when we did?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
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