The Australian government cuts its international arrival cap by 50%, leaving thousands stranded as flight prices soar.

Throughout much of the pandemic, Australia became the global standard for enviable success.

With its geographic isolation and strong economy, the nation took decisive steps to close its borders and largely keep Covid-19 at bay.

The results were clear: While other nations struggled with prolonged lockdowns and overwhelmed health systems, Australians enjoyed public events, large gatherings, and a functioning society.

At the heart of this normalcy was a strict limit on international arrivals and a government-managed quarantine system. These measures kept the virus under control, but also left many Australian families apart and made it nearly impossible for citizens stranded abroad to come home.

To make matters worse, Australia has reduced its international arrival cap from just over 6,000 to around 3,000 passengers per week, effective July 14. This has shattered the hopes of about 34,000 Australians who are stuck overseas and seeking to return home, as recorded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

This move was decided by the national cabinet after repeated breaches in the quarantine system allowed the highly contagious Delta variant to spread within communities, revealing vulnerabilities in Australia's primary defense measures against Covid-19.

The new caps will be reassessed on August 31, but the federal government has suggested they will likely remain in place through the end of the year.

Australian officials have emphasized that achieving herd immunity is essential for reopening the country's borders.

However, despite being one of the world's wealthiest nations, only 9% of Australian adults are fully vaccinated, placing the country at the bottom of the list among the 38 OECD member states. This slow rollout has made it impossible for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to promise a Christmas 2022 reopening.

In the coming weeks, international airlines will have to cancel flights for thousands of Australians who are already booked due to the reduced arrival cap. Some carriers might even suspend passenger flights entirely, as they struggle to keep operations financially viable, according to the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia (BARA).

Barry Abrams, executive director of BARA, explained that several international airlines have indicated they are reassessing their flight schedules, and a reduction in flight frequency to Australia is likely.

According to Abrams, the Australian government's plan to increase repatriation flights will hardly compensate for the new caps, and the backlog of stranded citizens abroad is expected to grow significantly in the coming months.

“An additional 10 repatriation flights between July 14 and August 31 could bring about 1,700 arrivals into Darwin, a small fraction of the more than 21,000 individuals who have lost their seats to major capital city airports,” he explained.

Even before the new limits were imposed, airlines had been forced to fly into Australia with fewer than 20 passengers on each flight, leading them to prioritize premium business and first-class ticket sales to break even.

As more stories of separated families circulate, legal experts are raising concerns about whether the Australian government is violating international law by infringing on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which asserts that no one should be arbitrarily deprived of the right to return to their own country.

The United Nations has taken note, and in April, the Human Rights Committee announced it would review two separate complaints from Australian citizens stranded overseas regarding the impact of the government’s border restrictions.

‘I’ve never felt so powerless for such an extended period’

An Australian citizen residing in Germany, who asked Dinogo to keep her identity private, says she and her partner – a permanent resident – have been trying to return home since April 2020.

The couple has postponed their wedding twice as they wait for clarity on when they will be able to return. Earlier this year, the woman suffered a miscarriage, intensifying the emotional toll of being separated from loved ones.

“The stress has been overwhelming,” she shared with Dinogo. “I haven’t seen my parents in two years… I fell pregnant this year, but had a miscarriage at nine weeks. I honestly believe the stress of this uncertainty played a role in delaying my journey to motherhood.”

“We have a place to stay here, so we’ve been holding off on taking repatriation flights, allowing others who are in more urgent need to return. But the homesickness is unbearable. I’ve never felt so angry at the Australian government for treating its own citizens like outcasts, and I’ve never felt so powerless for so long,” she added.

Hannah Miller, an Australian mother living with her husband and daughter in Chicago, is facing a similar situation. She had planned to return to Melbourne with her family in March 2020, but delayed the move due to ongoing border restrictions. Now, she says her husband risks losing his permanent resident status unless he enters Australia within the next few months.

“My husband needs to make his first entry into Australia to finalize his permanent resident status, but the government isn't extending the deadline even though they are limiting arrivals,” Miller told Dinogo.

“I’m extremely disappointed in how Australia is handling the situation, especially since multiple studies show the quarantine system isn’t as effective as promised. There will never be zero cases again, and Australia needs to speed up vaccinations and return to some form of normalcy.”

Slow vaccine rollout

For much of the past year, millions of Australians lived largely unaffected by the most severe impacts of the coronavirus, leading leaders to convey the message that there was no urgency to vaccinate everyone, as other countries raced to roll out their vaccination programs.

Prime Minister Morrison has consistently stated that Australia's vaccine rollout is “not a race,” and it wasn't until Sunday evening that the federal government launched its first-ever vaccination advertising campaign, nearly six months after the initiative began.

The campaign has already faced significant criticism for its graphic content, particularly as it seems aimed at young Australians, who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.

The slow pace of Australia’s vaccination rollout is primarily due to a shortage of supply. Despite securing early deals with several vaccine candidates, the country is currently dependent on just two approved options: AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

The government secured the majority of its vaccines through AstraZeneca, purchasing 53.8 million doses in 2020. However, many of those doses are now being donated, after the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) raised the recommended age for the AstraZeneca vaccine to 60 and above, leaving millions of Australians relying on Pfizer.

From the outset, Australia lagged behind its allies in securing Pfizer doses. The government finalized its first agreement for 10 million doses in November 2020, while the UK, Japan, and Canada had already signed deals as early as July or August.

In an effort to fill the void, the government secured another 30 million doses of Pfizer in mid-2021, but these additional vaccines won’t arrive until later this year.

Adding to the complications, doctors across Australia have reported a rise in the number of people canceling their AstraZeneca vaccine appointments, citing mixed messages from politicians about the vaccine’s safety.

As millions continue to await vaccines to end the cycle of lockdowns and tens of thousands of citizens remain stranded abroad, Australia may soon be regarded as exceptional in this pandemic—not for its success, but for its complacency.