Upgraded.
April 05, 2020 06: 09:04
Very few of Australia’s global diaspora of about 1 million very mobile individuals will have left our shores without hearing the song-turned-advertising-jingle with the line: “I’m always travelling, I like being totally free.”
Bottom line:
- Considering that mid-March, an approximated 200,000 of the 1 million Australians living or travelling abroad have actually returned
- DFAT’s Canberra headquarters has actually fielded 30,000 calls from desperate visitors and their families
- In three weeks the Government has actually helped more than 6,000 Australians disembark more than 40 cruise liner and fly home
Through trial, and periodic mistakes, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is these days quite proficient at collaborating the movement of distressed Australians stranded by the odd military coup, tsunami or terrorist attack.
In only a matter of days, DFAT has mounted one of the largest and most complex consular workouts this country has actually ever carried out– dealing straight with foreign ministers, provincial port authorities and cruise liners in global waters– to bring as numerous Australians house as possible.
Many have currently mad