Coronavirus: Government offers loans to help people get home

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed on Wednesday more than 23,000 Australians had registered as citizens overseas who want to come home, a 4200 increase in the past two weeks.

Almost 3500 of those are considered vulnerable.

Australians are reporting that caps on incoming flights due to the strain on the hotel quarantine system are making it almost impossible to get home. Only about 4000 Australians can get back each week.

Merewether teacher Layne Wiseman is stuck in the United Kingdom, unable to secure a flight back home.

"I moved here in December to work as a teacher in a school in Greater London and to travel around Europe," Ms Wiseman told the Herald.

"My plan was to stay for my full two years, but unfortunately due to COVID-19, I have had to make the decision to return home.

"As soon as Victoria went into lockdown, flight caps and mandatory paid quarantine were introduced. I knew it was going to be difficult, but I never expected it to be this hard. Right now it is seeming near impossible to get back home."

Those who are able to get flights report having their bookings cancelled at the last minute, particularly those in economy.

With numbers so limited airlines are prioritising first and business class passengers, the costs of getting home are climbing above $10,000 per person.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne has announced more government money will be spent on helping people overseas, with loans to cover accommodation and daily living expenses until they can return.

"Loans may also be available to help vulnerable Australians purchase tickets for commercial flights," she said.

There will be strict eligibility criteria for the loans and they will need to be repaid within six months on returning to Australia.

The move to announce loans comes after weeks of concerted campaigning from Australians overseas, desperate to return home.

"It's like we've been forgotten," said Canberran Emely Navarro Altamirano over the phone from Peru.

Ms Navarro Altamirano has been stuck in the small South American country for months and is now desperate to get home to Australia, but it seems an impossible feat, even before the price tag is considered.

Travelling to Peru in March to visit family, COVID-19 was yet to make worldwide impact and shut down international travel almost completely.

One of the 23,000 Australians registered with DFAT, Ms Navarro Altamirano said official messaging has been confusing and she has relied mostly on the internet and social media for information about how to get home.

Early in the pandemic, Peru introduced some of the strictest lockdown rules, including completely banning international travel. Australians have managed to leave the country on repatriation flights, but Ms Navarro Altamirano said she didn't know of the first of the flights until it was too late.

"We started getting scared and contacted our insurance company but they didn't get back to us," she said.

"Then they just said to stay."

She was set to get on a repatriation flight in late June, but just days before take-off was due, Ms Navarro Altamirano's uncle, her godfather, was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Just last week the country overtook Belgium as having the highest number of deaths per capita from the virus.

He was incredibly sick with the disease, and while he is almost recovered now, it has been an expensive process to get treatment and Ms Navarro Altamiro thought she couldn't leave him on his deathbed.

"He got really bad, he almost died," Ms Navarro Altamirano said.

"And I was like should I go back or should I stay, and I talked to my cousin and we thought surely they would organise another flight and things would get better."

It's that decision that has left Ms Navarro Altamirano in her current predicament.

Dutch Airline KLM is set to run a repatriation flight from Peru to Amsterdam, but even if she was able to get on that flight Ms Navarro Altamirano has no idea how she would get home to Australia from there, as there are no flights from there that would connect to a flight to Australia.

Even if it was possible to get on all the flights, Ms Navarro Altamirano estimates that it would cost $15,000 to get home, including an extra $3000 to pay for hotel quarantine on return.

Labor has taken aim at the government over the offer of loans, saying the strict criteria mean Wednesday's announcement was a headline without real help.

Of the $5 million already allocated for loans for those stuck overseas, only $1.3 million has been paid out.

The opposition wants the government to put all options on the table to get Australians back, including more repatriation flights and using Commonwealth resources to increase quarantine capacity.

In some ways Ms Navarro Altamirano is fortunate, a dual citizen with family to stay with, she isn't dealing with an impending expiring visa or homelessness like other Australians stuck overseas. She does have a mortgage in Australia and a life to return to though, and regrets leaving Canberra.

She is calling on the Australian government to do more to help people like her to get home.

"Please help us come back, all we want is a chance to go back to Australia, don't let us die here."

"I feel depressed, this is the lowest I have ever felt in my life. No matter how much it costs there is no way for me to get back," she said.

"What if I get sick here, what if I die?"

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