A LAKE Macquarie woman stranded with her husband and five children in the UK has become a voice for fellow Australians stuck overseas due to passenger caps on international arrivals.
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Deanne Vowels addressed the Senate inquiry into Australians seeking repatriation on Thursday, describing how a five-week holiday turned into a six-month nightmare due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Mrs Vowels said prior to this year, she had felt nothing but pride and gratitude for being Australian.
"The values I hold dear to me - and that many Australians hold dear to them - are never leaving a mate behind, and a fair go for all," she told the inquiry.
"But when seeking help from my country, I have been told: 'There is nothing we can do', 'We get hundreds of calls every day just like yours', 'Have you set up a Go Fund Me page?' It feels like a long term boyfriend cheating on me. I have given my life to Australia, and in my time of need, it has dumped me."
Ms Vowels said they had been bumped from their flight back home in August, two days beforehand.
"The possibility is real that we may lose our home, our jobs and our everything due to a single policy that is keeping us out of the country," she told the inquiry.
"The solution to this problem is so simple - lift the caps.
"I 100 per cent agree we need to have policies in place to keep the whole community, including Australians in other countries, safe.
"This policy is not achieving this goal. It is mentally, physically and financially detrimental to our own people in the short and long term.
"If you can get high paying actors and politicians and cricket players and even lobsters into Australia, surely you can get a hard working family back home."
Related: Homeless, jobless, and stuck abroad
Ms Vowels told the inquiry that on March 19, the Smart Traveller website had stated that the travel ban announced by the Prime Minister did not apply to Australian citizens.
"It also stated the decision to come home or stay where you are is yours," she said. "We just didn't think we would not be able to come home."
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IN THE NEWS:
Anita Beaumont
Anita Beaumont is a health and general news reporter at the Newcastle Herald.
Anita Beaumont is a health and general news reporter at the Newcastle Herald.
