The couple, along with their sons Marcello, 9, Federico, 7, and Alessio, 2, travelled to Roberta’s home province of Calabria, in southern Italy, in December last year and planned to live there for six months.

Mr Muir, a teacher at St Philips College in Alice Springs, kissed his family goodbye in January to return to Australia for work and planned to fly back to Italy over the Easter break.

Then the pandemic hit, grinding Italy to a halt with Australia to follow within weeks.

There was no way out.

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“We’ve survived but it’s a long time apart … I haven’t seen my wife and kids since January,” Mr Muir said.

“It’s (emotionally) draining, it’s 10 months without your kids, without your family, for the kids it’s 10 months without their dad, and that’s by the time they are here.”

Mr Muir insists that his family’s situation — living in the “NT” part of Italy where the COVID-19 caseload is low, surrounded by relatives, and assisted by mates — is far better than most other Australians, some of whom have found themselves homeless abroad, alone and “dealing with difficult times”.

“One thing that is really important to acknowledge, is it’s really easy to say that people should have just returned,” he said.

“Our decision making was based on information at the time, they were safer where they were.”

International arrival caps

Ms Scaramuzzino and her three boys are part of a 24,000 strong contingent of Australians stuck overseas who are attempting to come home, with the Prime Minister, along with state and territory leaders, agreeing on Friday after a National Cabinet meeting to raise the cap on international arrivals progressively over the next few weeks.

Approximately 4000 Australians stuck overseas are deemed to be in a vulnerable position.

There has been increasing pressure on federal, state and territory governments to come up with ways to bring more Australians home, including a suggestion by Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese for RAAF planes to be used in repatriation missions.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, describing Australia as better managers of the pandemic than “almost any part of the world in developed economies” said he hoped to see the cap increased past 6000 weekly returns in the near future.

“Australians who are trying to get home at the moment are seeking to do that for many reasons, and particularly those more vulnerable, for circumstances completely outside their control. It’s not like they had an opportunity to come home early or anything like that,” he said.

“But we’ve got to remember, these are Australians coming home. These are Western Australians coming home to Western Australia. They are Queenslanders coming home to Queensland.”

As of September 27, NSW will take an additional 500 travellers per week, while Queensland and Western Australia will take an additional 200 travellers respectively. Queensland will move to increasing their intake to the full additional 500 by October 4, while WA will move to the full additional 500 by October 11.

Logistical rollercoaster

Mr Muir had, at first, attempted to get an exemption from the Commonwealth to fly to Italy to pick up his family, as it was “too big an ask” to make his wife quarantine for a month with three young boys.

But with ticket costs for just four of them to fly back hitting $35,000, the plan was financially unviable.

Then the Northern Territory, in July, relaxed its border measures to allow people from most states, including South Australia, to come into the jurisdiction freely.

This opened a window of opportunity for the family to cut the amount of time spent cooped up in quarantine by half.

Then the Commonwealth, in response to the bungled hotel quarantine system that led to Victoria’s second wave of COVID-19, capped the number of international arrivals per week- prompting international airlines to reduce capacity.

Mr Muir has since booked business class tickets, so there is less risk of the family being bumped out for another flight, for about $20,000.

Ms Scaramuzzino and the kids are due to make the six hour train journey to Rome from Calabria followed by a flight to Adelaide, where they will quarantine for two weeks before coming home to Alice Springs, on November 1.

Mr Muir questions why the family, who have space on their property in Alice Springs, couldn’t serve out the quarantine period at home.

“I ask this because there have been examples all over the country where people of influence, and others (children for example) who have been able to complete their two weeks at home,” he said. “Without the children, the quarantine is something understandable and doable, if there is any chance that they could simply return to Alice and quarantine where the children have some space that would be great.

“Understandably, the domestic flight is a problem with that. But it is still something that should be pursued; three young kids in a hotel room for two weeks, or longer, is it a good idea?”

Ms Scaramuzzino and the kids can’t to come straight to Darwin, as international airlines have suspended flights to the northern capital as it’s deemed commercially unviable.

Ready and willing

This despite the NT, on the proviso it can come to a staffing agreement with the Commonwealth, being ready and willing to house international arrivals at Darwin’s Howard Springs Quarantine Facility.

Health Minister Natasha Fyles on Friday confirmed the government was still working with the Commonwealth on how to make it work.

“I should say these are very complex situations, it’s not just a matter of simply finding some aeroplanes and flying into a foreign country,” she said.

“These are incredibly complex foreign affairs relationships that have to be worked through.

“We need to understand where those Australians overseas are and make sure that we can get them safely out of those countries.”

Silver linings

Mr Muir said the family had been focusing on the positives, like the kids being able to spend time with the family and learn Italian, which is what they intended for the trip to begin with.

“We’re pretty sure our two-year-old doesn’t speak any English,” he joked.

“We can feel sad about it all day long, or we can make the most of it.

“We are a young, loving family who just wish to be together.”

You can help the Muir-Scaramuzzino family via a GoFundMe set up by friends here.