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20K WESTERN AUSTRALIANS NOW STRANDED OVERSEAS

written by Hannah Dowling | January 27, 2022

File image of a Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 at Perth Airport. (Rob Finlayson)

Tens of thousands of people have been locked out of Western Australia indefinitely, after the state announced it would delay its reopening of international and domestic borders, airlines say.

According to the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia (BARA), which represents 34 airlines and 90 per cent of Australia’s international passenger traffic, there are now an estimated 20,000 Western Australians stranded overseas, with few options available for making their way home.

Around 6,000 of these have left Western Australia to go overseas, since the federal government lifted its blanket ban on outbound travel in November 2021, with many intending to return following the 5 February reopening date.

It comes as Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan announced last week that his government would no longer reopen its domestic and international borders on 5 February as previously planned.McGowan said the decision was made due to the Omicron variant being far more transmissible than its predecessors. No new date has been set for the border opening.

Instead, WA will continue to welcome just 265 arrivals into the state per week from overseas, sending each into hotel quarantine.

At that rate, it will take around 18 months to repatriate all 20,000 Australians still looking to make it home to WA, BARA said.