Stranded Aussies pushed aside as overseas arrivals are dominated by foreign nationals

In a new trend, more than half of all international arrivals in Australia are foreign nationals.

The percentage of ­arrivals who are Australian citizens has steadily decreased throughout the pandemic. Picture: Christian Gilles

More than half of all international arrivals in Australia are foreign nationals, in a trend that increasingly sees nearly 35,000 stranded Aussies pushed further to the back of the queue to return home.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show a steep decline in the percentage of Australian citizens included in the total number of people permitted to enter the country.

While the number of inter­national travellers has fluctuated since the borders were closed in March 2020, the percentage of ­arrivals who are Australian citizens has steadily decreased throughout the pandemic.

In April 2020, 69 per cent of overseas arrivals were Australian citizens. In July, that number had dropped to 58 per cent. By February, it was just 44 per cent.

The declining number of Australian citizens able to return is an indictment of government policy, according to the Stranded Aussies Action Network, a group dedicated to petitioning Australian policymakers to bring the country’s quarantine capacity up to “sustainable levels”.

“Especially now, a year into the pandemic, there is still no sign of any meaningful plan from any level of government to repatriate people significantly,” said co-founder Esther Rockett. “We just think that’s totally unacceptable.”

Some 34,500 people are registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as wanting to come home, including 5000 classified as vulnerable.

Many have found it impossible to book or afford flights, which are often cancelled and can cost up to $10,000 one-way, with arrivals capped at 6000 a week.

 

Despite the steady drop in numbers of returning citizens, a spokesperson from the Australian Border Force said: “The government’s first priority is bringing Australians home.”

“Australia’s travel restrictions and travel exemption policy settings support our efforts to return as many Australians as possible by ensuring any travel into Australia by a foreign national is limited to a very limited range of exemption criteria,” the spokesperson said.

Exemption criteria include those arriving on compassionate grounds, or people with critical skills such as those to support the medical sector. Entry has also been granted to seasonal workers and to people participating in the Pacific Labour Scheme.

Ms Rockett pointed to numerous reports of foreign celebrities, business people and sporting figures permitted to travel to Australia. “Australian citizens and permanent residents really should be a priority, they should be No 1,” she said. “The stranded Aussies crisis is the worst it’s been, and it’s deteriorating.”

She noted countries like New Zealand and Taiwan that provided up to three times Australia’s quarantine capacity but experienced fewer coronavirus infections.

February’s arrival figures included some 5070 people registered on temporary visas, including skilled visas (1020), visitor visas (1510), student visas (200) and work visas (130).

The month’s arrivals also consisted of 4060 New Zealand citizens and 5250 people with permanent resident visas.