Thread by @andrew236331

Dear Ministers, Senators, Fellow Australians,

CC: @ScottMorrisonMP @ausgov @KKeneally @SenatorWong @removethecaps @01moredave @adventure_ali_ @dfat @Deborra_lee @RealHughJackman @UNHumanRights @abcnews @nytimes @CNN @cnni @guardian @CBSNews

Please read on.. [It's a long one]

Well, it’s Christmas day 2020 and I am writing to you from the USA to express my disgust at how you have all treated my family and the other 39000+ Australians stranded overseas and to firmly request that immediate action is taken to repatriate them.

This action must be up to the task of bringing every Australian home within 30 days, without exception. It is unacceptable that Australians stuck overseas, some for over 10 months, are being abandoned to the predatory tactics of the few airlines still flying into Australia.

Skyrocketing ticket prices and multiple cancellations are having a devastating effect on individuals and families, those that are pleading for the right to have their return tickets honoured.

It is a sad indictment that almost every other country in the world has actively & effectively repatriated their citizens, yet Australia has not.

Many of our Asia Pacific neighbours have led the way with the application of good science and effective quarantine systems that prove citizens can be returned to their country without posing an undue risk to their communities.

It is beyond disgusting, and quite frankly nauseating that Australia welcomes cricket teams, tennis players, foreign students and low skilled workers yet leaves its own behind with no certainty when they will be lucky enough to be on a flight home.

As a former member of the ADF I find it particularly abhorrent that you have treated Australians the way you have, and even more repulsive that you allow the general public to believe that somehow this is our fault.

In the Military we have a code, No man is left behind no matter what; that is what we fought for, that is why we could fight because no matter what happened, we always knew we would get home. We fought, & continue to fight for all of YOU, protecting the rights of all Australians.

For #Strandedaussies in our hour of need, you have left us on the battlefield to suffer alone, afraid, without support, without hope...
It is inappropriate that elected leaders publicly victim blame those stuck overseas.

Ignorant statements like “they should have come home sooner” coming from the offices of the Prime Minister & State Premier’s need to be challenged loudly & publicly.

You know full well what was in the DFAT email sent in March 2020, & what Peter Dutton said in his TV interview of the same month.

To say that the old Diggers would be turning in their graves at the way the country they fought & died for is treating its own, Would be a gross understatement.

You all should be embarrassed at your lack of action on this matter. Stand up and fight for the citizens you are responsible to protect.

Yours Faithfully,
Andrew
Former Member of the ADF
Current Australian
Citizen & Family abandoned overseas in the USA