Rachael Woods was struggling to lock down full-time work at home, so left Lake Illawarra in 2019 for a new life in the UK.
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When the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the now 24-year-old didn't want to return to Australia "to join the dole queue" when she had work in hospitality, according to her mother.
However, her job was not immune and so began the ordeal to make it home, with her first flight paid for then cancelled in June and still no refund issued.
Credit cards maxed, no job and no money, more cancelled flights, and many wasted hours trying to seek government assistance, Ms Woods is still stranded overseas.
This is one of the cases Whitlam MP Stephen Jones will be raising in Federal Parliament this week, calling on the government to "find a way" to help 18,000 Australians get home.
Local residents stranded in China, Peru, Canada and the UK were currently seeking his help, the majority of whom were young people without a lot of money to pay for inflated airline tickets, he said.
"To say 'you're on your own' means people are going to have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a flight home," Mr Jones said.
"No young person from the Illawarra could afford it. In many cases flights are booked, paid for and then cancelled adding to the cost and uncertainty."
The Mercury reported last week that airlines were price gouging tickets to Australia because of pandemic restrictions. It's understood airlines are favouring business-class passengers over economy travellers, moving their tickets back by weeks and sometimes months.
As of August 25, economy one-way fares from London's Heathrow airport to Sydney ranged in price from $7600 to $24,000 for September.
Pricing and sale of tickets is at the discretion of the airlines, not the Australian government. Government-imposed limits on how many people can arrive in Australia on those flights (due to social distancing) have been extended until October 24.
Sydney can only take 350 international arrivals per day, Melbourne none, while Brisbane and Adelaide are capped at 500 in total each week and Perth 525 per week.
"The government is going to have to find a way - whether it's through the airlines, with the Air Force, the Defence forces," Mr Jones said.
"We can't have people in desperate situations, stranded in different countries with no money to get home and no-one to support them."
For struggling Aussies desperate to get home, he advised waiting at an airport on a standby list was an option, but wouldn't work for everyone (as flights are few and far between into the country).
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has a 24-hours emergency helpline on +61 2 6261 3305.
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