Split by continents, Thaller family blasts federal government over lack of process to bring home Aussies stuck overseas

An SA family split apart by caps on overseas flights has ripped into the federal government, saying it has no process to bring back Aussies – and airlines call the shots.

An Adelaide family split apart on opposite sides of the world for the past six months is pleading with the federal government to remove international arrivals caps for vaccinated Australians so they and other families can return home.

The family also has called on the government to set up a formal process to bring Australians home, revealing who gets to return and when is left up to airlines.

Rachel Thaller, 50, and daughter Lily, 18, are stuck in Canada – while husband and father Damien Thaller, 47, returned to Australia in February – after their seats on their late-July flight were cancelled just three days before departure.

Their beloved dog Rosie was allowed to re-enter the country last month and reunited with Damien late last week after serving her quarantine period.

Damien Thaller is reunited with his family’s dog Rosie after she was released from quarantine, while his wife and daughter are stranded in Canada.

Mr Thaller said they were not the only Australian family split apart, with no indication when they could be reunited.

He called on the federal government to develop a plan so families were not left in limbo.

“The biggest thing for me out of all this, is the lack of support from Australia, from our government,” he said. “They didn’t put a system in place to help us. We’re not even one number in a sheep herd.”

The family moved to Canada in 2016 so Mr Thaller could pursue his career in the film visual effects industry, and had planned to move home after a couple of years.

He wanted to bring back the expertise he gained to the Australian industry, and while a new job back home was confirmed a year ago the only flight he could get was in February.

His wife and daughter – both fully vaccinated with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines – remained behind to ensure their dog could receive its required vaccinations to return, which takes more than 200 days, and for Lily to graduate high school in June.

Rachel and Lily Thaller’s seats on their flight back to Australia were cancelled three days before departure in July.

They were booked on a July 30 flight to arrive in Sydney. Mr Thaller was advised on July 27 their seats had been cancelled because the federal government halved international arrivals.

In the July 2 press conference, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it would take a couple of weeks to implement the cap.

“We want to try and minimise the disruption for people with already planned flights and things like that over the next couple of weeks,” Mr Morrison had said.

The smarttraveller website states: “It’s up to the airlines, not the government, to decide who it sells tickets to”.

The Thallers were left homeless, as they had ended their house lease, sold their car and furniture. They are now staying in a short-term Airbnb rental.

They rebooked flights for September 16 but have no guarantee these seats will not be cancelled if the cap continues beyond August 31, especially as the Covid-19 situation in Sydney has since worsened.

“It’s just the process of it all,” Mr Thaller said. “Our leaders left us to figure it out for ourselves. I’ve sent six emails to Canberra, I’ve got automated replies.”

With uncertainty around a departure date, they do not know what housing to secure, nor can they work to pay for food and rent. Their visitor and work visas to legally live in Canada expire in February.

Rosie the dog pines for her family while on a walk along an Adelaide beach on the weekend.

They have demanded to know why the government has failed to come up with an appropriate process to facilitate home arrivals, as well as increase quarantine facilities, in the 17 months since the pandemic began.

“We don’t know when we’re going to be able to return. It’s incredibly stressful,” Mrs Thaller said.

“We couldn’t drop everything (last March) and return back to Australia.”

She registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, whose only advice was to upgrade the flight seats, such as to business class, to increase their chances they would return.

Those one-way seats can cost more than $15,000 each.

“Where’s the ‘Here’s the five steps to be able to figure this out’? I do that every day in my team (when we face problems),” Mr Thaller said.

“It’s the fact that the government has left it up to the airlines to cap the flights 50 per cent – they get to pick and choose who gets on that flight.”