From 9 pm tonight, Temporary Resident visa holders will be banned from entering Australia. No thought what so ever has been given to those visa holders who are currently outside Australia and finding it difficult to get back. No thought at all to those who are working here, have leased or purchased properties here, or even have their children or other family members here.
In our previous articles, we have urged our international temporary residents to think twice about putting themselves in harm’s way to help Australia with the Coronavirus battle.
The reason we have stressed this is because we know the government will take no measures to protect and look after you if you get sick helping out. Yesterday’s announcement by the Prime Minister of the travel ban just confirms reality.
Last night we received a desperate message from Erav Nad on our FaceBook page. He wrote;
We are overseas atm with holding 489 visa, no way to come back by deadline as flights cancelled for next few rays, they said non residents cant come back to Australia but we maintain our residence in regional and still have to pay rents and bills , we have no income overseas and annual leave already spent on the visit most of us dont maintain residence in home countries anymore, will be in deep trouble. They have to let temporary residence visa holders in.
Erav is now banned from returning to his home, his job and everything he has strived so hard to accomplish. The grant of his 489 visa and the settling into regional Australia, may all go to waste.
His story is heartbreaking. What makes it worse that we are sure he is not alone. There also must be many multinational company business people who have offices in Australia and possibly homes too, who found themselves unlucky enough to be offshore at the time of this announcement. By locking them out too, what does it say about the trust of investing in Australia?
Was it really necessary to affect our temporary residents in such a fashion and be so destructive towards them? I can’t believe there was no time to give them a chance to return home too.
For those who thought I was being harsh towards my own government, I dare you to tell Erav he deserves to be shut out of Australia to his face, and then see if you feel good about yourself afterward.
If we let people like Erav to be left out in turmoil, all Australian Citizens are responsible for our government’s decision. We can just hide behind our PM and be content we did the right thing thinking Erav is just some casualty of war.
Let Our Temporary Residents Come Home!
