Australia to Reduce Incoming Int. Passenger Capacity from July 2021

[MEL_Traveller]

I would like to be hopeful, however the 3 month travel ban keeps on getting extended every time they reassess it. When decisions are made that are illogical it’s hard to predict when they may be reversed.

But looking at the criteria for the 3-month travel bans it's easy to see why it keeps getting extended. None of the risks identified in the declaration have been mitigated. (The only difference between today and the initial declaration is that a tiny proportion of Aussies have been vaccinated.)

 

[AustSerbKor]

Biden banned exports of Pfizer and Moderna

I am biased, while there are some things that the government has done brilliantly, I don't believe the vaccine program is one of them.
We went heavily into AstraZeneca because it was cheaper to purchase, involved significantly cheaper logistics and could be made here. Unfortunately we know about the unforeseeable clotting issue but issues with vaccines on emergency approvals surely are foreseeable.
Regardless of Biden banning Pfizer exports from the US, "... Pfizer have been hitting their marks for the supply of the vaccines into Australia." Source (Interview with Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft, 3AW | Prime Minister of Australia accessed 5 July, 2021)

In my view we should have bought every vaccine we were offered, which would have allowed us to donate excess doses (if any) to our neighbours.

Israel is currenty desperate to swap 1 million Pfizer doses expiring on the 31st of July with a future delivery of Pfizer. Source (Israel has more Pfizer vaccine than it can use and is scrambling to arrange a swap) although the headline is inaccurate, it seems to be a swap not a donation. I hope that the government is talking to Israel if (a big if) the logistics can work.

I also hope Queensland can say yes to a quarantine facility here instead of trying to get political points for the things Queensland have done poorly. I recognise Queensland has also done a brilliant job in some areas but not all.
Not allowing citizens entry or exit to Australia and even threatening fines or gaol reminds me of North Korea and has taught me, I need more than one citizenship in the future as I might be overseas when things go bad.

 

[mviy]

Doing a Pfizer swap wouldn't work well. The doses could only be used for 2nd doses plus 1st doses that other shipments can provide 2nd doses for in a reasonable timeframe, so to pluck a number out of the air of say 200k doses injected to give Israel 1 million doses back in a few months would not be a good trade. Maybe if we intended to reopen the borders in 1-2 months it would be a good trade but the government has given every indication that the border restrictions may not even go back to what they were a week ago until next year.

 

[dajop]

It’s being reported in the Age and the like there will be 20 repatriation flights into Darwin/Howard Springs up to September.

Yet, several months ago the government told us that they were lifting the capacity of HS to 2000 by end of June and as a result they expected repatriation flights to expand from 8 a month to 20 a month.

Last week they promised extra flights. But isn’t this 20 (lower than) the flights already promised, and not any more?

With 200 pax/flight the math of 20 flights over 2-3 months to a facility that can take 2000 over a fortnight doesn’t really add up.

 

[Ade]

In the news today

Insane overseas flight prices for Aussies

Airlines servicing certain routes into Australia – such as from London or Dubai – are being warned against overcharging stranded residents trying to get home.

www.news.com.au

 

[MEL_Traveller]

In the news today

Insane overseas flight prices for Aussies

Airlines servicing certain routes into Australia – such as from London or Dubai – are being warned against overcharging stranded residents trying to get home.

www.news.com.au

I saw that! Of course I immediately tried to replicate it but the prices have dropped. The headline-grabbing $36k for the one way LHR-SYD on 14 July is now 'just' $5849.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Prices do seem to have become more reasonable - I was having a look at j return lax-Syd in August last night and it was pushing $30,000, now only 13,000 to 15,000

 

[Seat0B]

I need more than one citizenship in the future as I might be overseas when things go bad.

I really agree with you @Big_fella1? I never felt the need to have another citizenship - until now. Now I would really appreciate that option, but as a 60 year old whose last relative migrated to Australia in the 1850’s I am Australian through and through, with not many worthwhile options that I am aware of. Who ever would have thought Australian citizens would be saying things like this.

 

[Seat0B]

It’s being reported in the Age and the like there will be 20 repatriation flights into Darwin/Howard Springs up to September.

Yet, several months ago the government told us that they were lifting the capacity of HS to 2000 by end of June and as a result they expected repatriation flights to expand from 8 a month to 20 a month.

Last week they promised extra flights. But isn’t this 20 (lower than) the flights already promised, and not any more?

With 200 pax/flight the math of 20 flights over 2-3 months to a facility that can take 2000 over a fortnight doesn’t really add up.

Yeh, nah! This is how it’s done now. Announce something and don’t do it. Then announce it again, and make it sound like something extra, but don’t do it. Then finally under pressure maybe start to do it, and claim that you have delivered on all those promises. Total smoke and mirrors. I think they think we are all stupid. And seems like a lot of us are.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I really agree with you @Big_fella1? I never felt the need to have another citizenship - until now. Now I would really appreciate that option, but as a 60 year old whose last relative migrated to Australia in the 1850’s I am Australian through and through, with not many worthwhile options that I am aware of. Who ever would have thought Australian citizens would be saying things like this.

It will get better - hopefully in a few years we will be normal and all these horrible memories will fade! We are getting there!

I have kept in touch with guides and waitresses from my Safari trips in a number of Africa countries and honestly however bad we feel here, it is so much worse there. One of my guides is in Tanzania - he hasn’t worked for 15 months, his Government until a few months ago, refused to admit Covid was real, didn’t keep any stats and refused to consider vaccination. Fortunately the President died (probably from Covid) and there is a more sensible woman in charge now. There is no economic support and if you don’t have savings or someone to help you, you starve…

 

[Pushka]

I really agree with you @Big_fella1? I never felt the need to have another citizenship - until now. Now I would really appreciate that option, but as a 60 year old whose last relative migrated to Australia in the 1850’s I am Australian through and through, with not many worthwhile options that I am aware of. Who ever would have thought Australian citizens would be saying things like this.

I can get an Ancestry Visa for UK due to Grandparents being born in UK. I have all the required birth and death certificates from last year.

 

[mviy]

I would like to get another citizenship but my family has been in Australia for too many generations for that to be easy. If I had dual citizenship I would have been planning to leave by now and ride out the rest of the pandemic overseas.

 

[Seat0B]

It will get better - hopefully in a few years we will be normal and all these horrible memories will fade! We are getting there!

I have kept in touch with guides and waitresses from my Safari trips in a number of Africa countries and honestly however bad we feel here, it is so much worse there. One of my guides is in Tanzania - he hasn’t worked for 15 months, his Government until a few months ago, refused to admit Covid was real, didn’t keep any stats and refused to consider vaccination. Fortunately the President died (probably from Covid) and there is a more sensible woman in charge now. There is no economic support and if you don’t have savings or someone to help you, you starve…

Rant warning

Yes, I know things are bad elsewhere, but I’m not really talking about COVID as such, more about the ugly things it has revealed in our society. For example, the loss of any meaningful Australia and the reversion to pre-Federation states with borders and police powers that I would never ever ever have thought possible here. And yes I know quite a bit about federation and the law, but it always previously seemed more theoretical than real.

Who has ever heard before now of ”Queensland hospitals are for Queenslanders“ or of residents of various states (at least WA and Vic, and maybe more) being refused the right to go to their homes, jobs, families, lives if they had the audacity to be caught on the wrong side of a no-notice border slam. And not even permitted the opportunity to hotel quarantine - no, just totally locked out.

who would ever have thought that people would be denied the chance to farewell loved ones on their deathbeds, refused permission to hold a funeral for their 8 year old child, refused permission to attend or even hold a wedding, have their IVF cancelled and maybe miss the fertility window forever, be denied very necessary but elective surgery. FFS this is not Ebola that we are talking about here. And who would have thought that this egalitarian and larrikin country I used to love so much would just accept all that and slam millions of people into lockdowns for a single case of COVID or sometimes when there are zero cases, but you know, just in case. All whilst allowing elites to do pretty much whatever they want - travel overseas, visit pubs, follow their family history, play sports, go to the olympics, quarantine at home - the list goes on and on.

Who would have believed that we would become so compassionless as to ban a fully vaccinated mother who gave birth early whilst in quarantine and repeatedly tested negative for COVID from seeing her child?

Who would have believed the farce of the Qld CHO and premier with their ”don’t do as I do, do as I say“ attitude to getting the Pfizer vaccine, late, when they should have had AZ, as soon as they were eligible. Or the hypocrisy of AP criticising hotel quarantine and travel exemptions for business travellers whilst herself expecting a pork barrel jolly to the Olympics.

Who would have thought that Australians would be threatened with jail for the heinous act of trying to enter their country, or that a sizeable portion of Australians clearly think that Australians living overseas are somehow less Australian and that there should be very restrictive caps on their ability to return to their country. I ask in all seriousness, what is the value of an Australian passport if it does not even grant you entry to Australia?

there are many more ugly characteristics that this vaccine has revealed, but I’m on the verge of needing a full on rant warning, so I will just say that if I had another citizenship right now, I would feel better than I do at the moment. I have had it slammed into me very hard that I was living in lala land, and the Australia I thought I knew was actually a very delicate illusion that has now well and truly showed its true and ugly, selfish, fearful, stupid, unkind nature.

Rant over, but I doubt that normal transmission can ever resume for me - I can never unknow what I now know.

edited for iPad typos

 

[drron]

I hear you @Seat0B .
But I hope our politicians and bureaucrats are doing things out of ignorance rather than to a planThey have allowed themselves into believing polling organisations and not listening to the ordinary folk.They do hear them but I am afraid they don't listen.

In some ways I am now a little sorry that I didn't take the job offer from the USA about 35 years ago.But then who wants to live in Iowa.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Rant warning

Yes, I know things are bad elsewhere, but I’m not really talking about COVID as such, more about the ugly things it has revealed in our society. For example, the loss of any meaningful Australia and the reversion to pre-Federation states with borders and police powers that I would never ever ever have thought possible here. And yes I know quite a bit about federation and the law, but it always previously seemed more theoretical than real.

Who has ever heard before now of ”Queensland hospitals are for Queenslanders“ or of residents of various states (at least WA and Vic, and maybe more) being refused the right to go to their homes, jobs, families, lives if they had the audacity to be caught on the wrong side of a no-notice border slam. And not even permitted the opportunity to hotel quarantine - no, just totally locked out.

who would ever have thought that people would be denied the chance to farewell loved ones on their deathbeds, refused permission to hold a funeral for their 8 year old child, refused permission to attend or even hold a wedding, have their IVF cancelled and maybe miss the fertility window forever, be denied very necessary but elective surgery. FFS this is not Ebola that we are talking about here. And who would have thought that this egalitarian and larrikin country I used to love so much would just accept all that and slam millions of people into lockdowns for a single case of COVID or sometimes when there are zero cases, but you know, just in case. All whilst allowing elites to do pretty much whatever they want - travel overseas, visit pubs, follow their family history, play sports, go to the olympics, quarantine at home - the list goes on and on.

Who would have believed that we would become so compassionless as to ban a fully vaccinated mother who gave birth early whilst in quarantine and repeatedly tested negative for COVID from seeing her child?

Who would have believed the farce of the Qld CHO and premier with their ”don’t do as I do, do as I say“ attitude to getting the Pfizer vaccine, late, when they should have had AZ, as soon as they were eligible. Or the hypocrisy of AP criticising hotel quarantine and travel exemptions for business travellers whilst herself expecting a pork barrel jolly to the Olympics.

Who would have thought that Australians would be threatened with jail for the heinous act of trying to enter their country, or that a sizeable portion of Australians clearly think that Australians living overseas are somehow less Australian and that there should be very restrictive caps on their ability to return to their country. I ask in all seriousness, what is the value of an Australian passport if it does not even grant you entry to Australia?

there are many more ugly characteristics that this vaccine has revealed, but I’m on the verge of needing a full on rant warning, so I will jus5 say that if I had another citizenship right now, I would feel better than I do at the moment. I have had it slammed into me very hard that I was living in lala land, and the Australia I thought I knew was actually a very delicate illusion that has now we’ll need truly showed its true and ugly, selfish, fearful, stupid, unkind nature.

Rant over, but I doubt that normal transmission can ever resume for me - I can never unknow what I now know.

It has been incredibly ugly. Stressful situations bring out the worst in people. Look at the Second World War and how many people turned a blind eye to what went on. I grew up in South Africa where millions of people were happy to ignore children dying of malnutrition, Bureau of State Security, spies at the Universities, no education if you were black, children being shot in the streets of Soweto during the education riots in 75. Very few people in the white community cared as long as we could keep our wonderful life style.

So I grew up knowing what people are like, but also that you can find good in them as well. Perhaps because my expectations of people and governments are way lower, it doesn’t worry me as much. I can also guarantee that it will fade - human beings are very resilient at recovering. When I left South Africa I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, from trying and failing to do anything. But time heals and I eventually could go back and visit and love the country and people again.

EDIT - it’s almost Lord of the Flies - strip away some of the veneer, give people more power than they normally have and watch it disintegrate

 

[Seat0B]

They have allowed themselves into believing polling organisations and not listening to the ordinary folk.They do hear them but I am afraid they don't listen.

Well I hope they get a loud and clear message from this poll - a petition signed by almost 20,000 people so far.

 

[mviy]

The petition has been mentioned on multiple Sky News shows including Paul Murray Live:

 

[Pushka]

The petition has been mentioned on multiple Sky News shows including Paul Murray Live:

And as I 'liked this', I just heard it mentioned on the radio in Adelaide. It won't change anything but it sure sends a message.

 

[luxury-lizard]

here's my 2 cents worth on those thinking they would leave Australia if only they had dual citizenship. I am just as frustrated as other posters on the situation in Australia - mainly the international border closure, state premiers' and federal government's total lack of co-operation and politicalising their pandemic response (how did we ever get through WW II?), the vaccine debacle, . . . However, both Mr LL and I have a second citizenship (Canadian and German) but we have no intention of leaving Australia (other than holidays of course) . . . as self-funded retirees all you need to do is have a look at other countries' income tax (for people our age) - it's not an attractive option - and who wants to live in some tax-free haven (I'd name a few but have no idea other than hearsay what they might be).

BTW - while I have no time for Anna - I'm OK with her attending the Olympics - saying it will take away 1 place in HQ for a stranded Aussie is tortuous logic and while there's a Covid cloud over these Olympics it is important particularly with Brisbane set to be the host in 2032.

 

[Pushka]

BTW - while I have no time for Anna - I'm OK with her attending the Olympics - saying it will take away 1 place in HQ for a stranded Aussie is tortuous logic and while there's a Covid cloud over these Olympics it is important particularly with Brisbane set to be the host in 2032.

I understand her logic but she was particularly harsh on business travellers as being able to obtain an exemption. Yet here she is.