Highlights
- Australians wanting to leave the country during the pandemic need to apply for exemptions to leave
- Australians living overseas will be required to present an approval to return home
- More than 38,000 Australians stranded overseas have registered to come home, over 4,500 of them are considered vulnerable.
Australia has made it harder to leave the country during the coronavirus pandemic for citizens and permanent residents who usually live overseas.
The federal government has tightened international border rules applying to Australian citizens who live in other countries. They will now need approval to return home.
"Where people have come back home, often to be with dying relatives or some other emergency, they should be able to return back to their place of residence, their jobs and families overseas, if need be. It is really a matter for the government to explain why they are putting further hurdles in place for people, time and time again, who have already faced enormous obstacles to be with their families."
