Coronavirus: Fly stranded Australians home, Labor demands

Labor has demanded the Morrison government provide evacuation flights to get hundreds of thousands of Australian travellers home.

Steve and Caitlin McCann are trapped in Guatemala.

Labor has demanded the Morrison government provide evacuation flights to get hundreds of thousands of Australian travellers home, amid rising anxiety among those stranded overseas by the closure of international borders.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade estimates there are between 500,000 and one million Australians trapped overseas, but it can’t say where they are or how many want to come home.

They include more than 3000 Australians on at least 30 cruise ships that have been unable to find anywhere to dock.

DFAT is refusing to disclose the ships’ names and locations, while Foreign Minister Marise Payne is yet to make a comprehensive statement on the way the government is dealing with the crisis.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said the government should “follow the lead of other countries in providing direct support to bring stranded Australians home”.

She said this should include “subsidised and assisted departures where commercial options are not viable”. The government also needed to be honest with Australian travellers and their families through “clear and active communication”, Senator Wong said.

Victorian couple Steve and Caitlin McCann told The Australian they were desperate to get out of Guatemala, where they have watched regular US flights leave the country without word of any help from Australia.