Wallington mum Petra van Korven stuck in the Netherlands
A Geelong woman is calling on the government to intervene and help get her Wallington mum home after the aged care worker became stuck in the Netherlands because of return traveller caps following an overseas trip to visit her terminally ill mother for the last time.
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A WALLINGTON mum stranded in the Netherlands for a month is pleading with the federal government for an exemption to a cap limiting Australians returning home from overseas.
Since August 10, Petra van Korven, 63, has been trying to return to Geelong but has had flights cancelled or postponed six times due to the cap.
Ms van Korven’s daughter Nonie said a flight home for her mum in late October was the next hope if her application for an exemption to return home outside the current weekly caps is not granted.
“We suspect that leading up to (the flight) it will be changed again,” Nonie said.
The Department of Transport, which did not respond directly to Ms van Korven’s case, said airlines could apply for increases to passenger arrival caps that are considered “subject to the availability.”
The federal government has capped weekly returned travellers to 4,000 until October, and 25,000 Australians overseas say they want to come home.
Ms van Korven, a permanent resident, left Geelong on July 7 to travel to the Netherlands to be with her terminally ill mother who has since died, and wants to return to work at the Mercy Place Rice Village nursing home in Marshall.
She’s already turned up at the Amsterdam airport on advice of Qatar Airways in the hope of getting onto a flight but was turned away on August 20 after being unable to secure a spot on a flight to Sydney due to the cap.
International flights into Melbourne have been suspended since August which means Ms van Korven would have to quarantine where she arrives.
Corangamite MP Libby Coker, in contact with Ms van Korven’s family, said: “I do support an increase to the cap on the number of travellers permitted to return to Australia. All options should be on the table get them home – including charter flights if necessary.”
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said caps on international arrivals were critical to the safety of the Australian community.
Since March 13, 27,300 Australians citizens and permanent residents have returned home on more than 353 flights.
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Originally published as Wallington mum Petra van Korven stuck in the Netherlands