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Tennis stars' arrival angers stranded Australians

Tennis stars' arrival angers stranded Australians

Tennis stars' arrival angers stranded Australians
Jan 15, 2021 1 min, 41 secs

The sight of some of the world's biggest tennis stars touching down for the upcoming Australian Open tournament has frustrated many Australians unable to return home due to the pandemic.

Australia currently has a weekly cap on the number of international arrivals, with people having to undergo quarantine in a designated facility.

There are roughly 37,000 Australians waiting to return, ABC News reports.

Meanwhile, organisers of the Australian Open have been putting on chartered flights for the players and other members of staff.

Players had to test negative before boarding flights and were then placed in designated Australian Open quarantine hotels in Melbourne and Adelaide.

Their arrival, while so many Australians are still trying to return home, has drawn criticism.

"All I want to do is return home.

On Saturday, the Australian government said it would arrange for a further 20 international repatriation flights to bring its stranded nationals home from "priority areas".

"While the Australians back home watch the tennis, I'll be reading on support pages the daily horror stories of stranded Australians entering into homelessness," she told the BBC, speaking before the latest announcement on flights from the government.

"It has always been apparent to us that Australia has means to get their people home, they just lack the political will to do so and this makes me unspeakably mad.

It's heartless economic decision making and the tennis for us is just another group of people we see the government prioritised above us.".

Unlike other countries, those arriving in Australia must quarantine in a designated facility or hotel instead of their own homes.

The Australian government has operated a number of repatriation flights but demand has been high.

Last month, in an interview on the Seven TV network, Mr Morrison said Australians overseas were his "first priority in terms of people coming back into the country"?

"We want you to come home and you have every right to come home," he said?

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