Loopylu

It’s that sort of defeatist attitude that allows governments to ride roughshod over people. You probably wouldn’t know or care, but people with stage 4 pancreatic cancer sleep a lot.I can hardly spend every waking hour with my Dad but when I can spend quality time with him I am. I spend approximately 15 minutes a day on PIO. Telling me to lighten up when my Dad is fading before my eyes is very hurtful. It’s telling me that you are not interested in the suffering of others. Have a lovely life....

My original post is about the UN case which relates specifically to the right of Australians to return to their country of citizenship, so why would I muddy the waters so yo speak with the issues you have raised? However, I agree it is very sad that families have been prevented from reuniting indefinitely as there is no roadmap. We were personally affected by this. My parents were due to come and stay with us for a month in 2020 as they try to do every year but were prevented by border closures. Now my Dad is terminally ill and so he will most likely not see my children (2x20 and 16) again. They could not travel with me to the UK due to work and education commitments and not knowing if they would be able to get back due to caps. Of course, the government is also in breach of IHR law by not letting people leave Australia, but as I said that is a separate issue. if there were more extensive quarantine facilities. then people with family overseas could travel to see family on the proviso they quarantined on return. I read SBS regularly and there are some heartbreaking stories relating to the separation of families due to border closures.

That is very kind of you. At the moment I feel fairly ambivalent about being bumped off my flight as, deep down, I would like to stay longer and enjoy a British summer. However, I know I should try to get back sooner rather than later with my husband starting dialysis soon. My parents are quite insistent that I should be there to support him and don't want to be the reason why I am not there. With modern technology I probably talk more now to my 20 year old lads than when I lived in the same house. There, I always got the feeling that I was interrupting their gaming/sleeping whenever I ventured into their rooms! As they are quasi-nocturnal uni students I am now in the right time zone to interact with them when they are at their best... My 16 year old daughter also lives on her Iphone so we talk daily and she is now probably sharing stuff with me that I probably would prefer not to know when I can do nothing about it (like her friends introducing her to a potential boyfriend, what she is planning to get done at the hairdressers with her KFC pay).

I will take your advice on board. Unfortunately I very much doubt that a change in tone would make one iota of difference when it comes to the attitudes and views of some posters on here. Unless you sing from the same hymn sheet you are persona non gratis.

So, there is now a new rule on PIO - you are not allowed to criticise the Australian Government, at all. Yes, it was my choice but, just because I made it, it does not mean I forfeit my right to an opinion on the whole Australian quarantine and caps debacle. Yes, I have heard that I am likely to be prioritised having a return half and I have also heard that SIngapore (unlike Qatar) try not to overbook so that they can meet the caps. I am prepared to undertake the quarantine and I don't believe I have complained about doing that, anywhere. However, the fact that the government has failed to provide sufficient quarantine spaces for all Australian citizens who want to return is something that is wrong in my opinion (which according to you, I have forfeited the right to have!). Yet again, you and others are ganging up to make spiteful comments. I recall there was a warning recently about this sort of behaviour but it obviously fell on deaf ears because, like typical Aussie bullies, you can't help yourselves.

People cannot just walk out of jobs and jump on a plane, travel with a newborn that does not have an Australian passport, travel in the last weeks' of pregnancy. People had leases, owned homes and it takes time (as everyone on here who has relocated to Australia should know) to tidy up affairs before leaving. There are numerous reasons why people why people could not return at that early stage. This again is another example of a snap judgment based on the Government's simplistic view of the lives of ordinary people. For example, you walk out of your job without giving notice and with nothing to go to in Australia. You run the risk of being sued by the employer for breach of notice conditions, they give you a rubbish or no reference, you can't find a job in Australia. You have no home to go to and no one will lease you a home because you have no job. You are then expected to survive on the pittance that the Government gives so-called "dole bludgers" and be looked down on by the rest of Australian society that ranks people by material success rather than individual worth.

Yawn. As you should know if you read international (not Aussie propaganda news) these are potentially inaccurate figures as the UK figures count people who died within 28 days of having been diagnosed with Covid. It is not necessarily the cause of death. However, keep drinking the Murdoch Koolaid and I hope you look forward to not being able to leave Australia until 2024 (unless of course you are rich and famous).

So your human rights are more important than your neighbour's human rights or that of other Australians who happen to be stuck overseas? My view is that the Government could if it put its mind to it look after all of its citizens - those already in Australia and those looking to return. It is very sad that it has taken an application to the UNHCR to get this Government to pull its finger out.

Did I say to open the borders (not spelling) to all-comers. My opening post is about AUSTRALIANS having their human right to return to their country of citizenship. The Government has ah a year to set up suitable quarantine facilities such as Darwin which, as far as I am aware, has not had any escape of Covid into the Community.

As I pointed out in my response to JonTheHat, I registered with DFAT as a precaution and miraculously as the UN story broke, 6 repatriation flights have been announced.... I suggest that this would not have happened if yet again, Australia was getting bad INTERNATIONAL press in relation to human rights. It doesn't help recruiting more wage slaves to invest several thousands in visas to move there if the world media reports on how badly it treats its ordinary citizens...

The difference is that the UK has a Human Rights Act and you can go to court to challenge human rights abuses and usually win. In Australia without any human rights legislation, all you have is the Australian Human Rights Commission who can tell the government that "it has been a very naughty boy" but cannot compel it to comply with its international human rights obligations. There has already been considerable uproar in the UK about the refugee proposals and at least the government is consulting on the measures and not arbitrarily imposing them. Sorry if I appear abrasive, but human rights is a fundamentally important issue and having provided pro bono advice to genuine refugees it is a matter close to my heart.

Exactly. Unfortunately, most commentators on this site just believe unquestioningly what the government feeds us through the Murdoch media and the compliant ABC who interestingly have not run with the UN story in their headlines.

Piffle and excuses.

The airlines are legally not permitted by THE GOVERNMENT to fly in more than those that meet the cap. Don't you read the news? Oh no, like most Aussies you don't bother with the news because it might make you unhappy. If it's not happening to you, who cares.

Yeah, just so long as you are alright. Stuff your fellow Aussies stuck overseas.

One can hope that this pronouncement shames the Government into behaving properly. I am registered with DFAT as I am technically an Australian who may get bumped off my flight in May due to the caps. In the last two days I have had 2 emails advising of 6 Qantas repatriation flights from London being laid on in May so perhaps this is a response to the UN request....

Well it seems my reading of international law aligns with that of Geoffrey Robertson QC and the UN.... https://www.sbs.com.au/news/un-requests-australian-government-ensure-the-prompt-return-of-two-stranded-citizens Yet again, the Australian Government shows it is incapable of respecting human rights (previous form includes the illegal indefinite detention of genuine refugees, not providing free public education to all children living in Australia, taxing backpackers higher income tax than locals in breach of tax conventions.... shall I go on). Time now that Australia had a bill of rights or human rights act, in my view, like every other democracy worth its salt. I know that the right wing out there on this forum (of whom there are many) will argue that this is a mere request from the UN, but this is pending a decision which will take 8 months to be made as due process has to be followed to allow Australia to justify its stance. However, for one of the two test cases affected who has a relative dying of cancer, 8 months is too long to wait....

As a number of middle aged women have been affected, I did wonder whether there was a link to the birth control pill which is also known to cause blood clots. From personal experience, I know that GPs switch older women to lower dose mini-pills to reduce the risk of blood clots and high blood pressure. Of course, it could be any number of things and no doubt there are loads of scientists beavering away to work out what may be causing this reaction in a relatively low number of people.

I think Cape gooseberries are a bit sweeter. I remember you could pick those in the UK too at the pick your own farms.

I did all that but the first time the photos were too large so wouldn't up load. So next time I chose small size and then they all appeared upside down. I decided that a higher power was telling me to give up....

Yes - Dad has the round one but it wasn't working properly to start with. He fixed it while I was out taking Mum for her second Covid vaccine and he had had a go with it but I don't like the results it produces -very patchy. I have the same attachment back in Brisbane too and again the results aren't as good as if you go meticulously over the area with the normal attachment. I'm very fussy when it comes to pressure washing....

It's the same in Australia. When my MIL died in hospital all alone her cause of death was recorded as simply "respiratory failure". The fact she had a fungal growth on her brain stem that had caused her to lose sight in one eye and caused her excruciating, unrelenting pain was omitted. They kept saying they were going to operate to remove the growth but, as she was 77, they just kept delaying the operation until she conveniently died. At no time were any of the family told that she was at death's door and it was a terrible experience for my husband and his siblings to receive a phone call in the middle of the night to say their mother had died alone when they were literally only a few kilometres away. We also decided to leave complaining about the care she received because it wouldn't bring her back. I am just very wary about when my other loved ones go into hospital now and ask lots of questions!

Out of interest, Toots - can you get the following fresh (not canned) produce (not available in Qld) in Tassie? gooseberries red currants white currants damsons loganberries runner beans broad beans I really miss a good gooseberry crumble or fool. At least we can now get rhubarb in Qld which was not available for a few years when we first moved over.

Don't worry - I have been out and about making the most of my time here. I only come on here first thing in the morning when I see my email notifications on threads I am involved in. I tried a few times to upload some photos for you of where I have been since leaving isolation but each time something went wrong. On my last attempt all the photos were upside down! Dad is doing remarkably well but he has always been a busy person and so he still tries to do what he can around the house. He did however allow me to spend 5 hours pressure washing a winter's worth of grime off the back patio (it's large!) on Easter Saturday so now the pavers are golden rather than a dull grey.... Off to the drive through clinic today to take Dad for his routine pre-chemo blood and Covid tests. My Mum tells me he's not good with these types of tests so I am expecting it to be a bit traumatic.... My husband used to be the same with blood tests and would go faint but living with CKD he has had to get used to them. It will be a very big needle when he starts dialysis....

Well it has been sunny and dry since I arrived on 19 March apart from one drizzly day. Been very lucky.