What happens if peoples visas expire? What happens if people lose their job abroad? What happens if people's home life in Australia changes, and they have to go back to care for an elderly or ill relative? Or if your father dies and someone needs to care for your mum? "Tough shit, you chose to live abroad so stay out" is one way to handle this, but in reality there should probably be more nuance.
Even if you decided to stay abroad because you don't want to quit your job, but then the country you were working in starts to have oxygen shortages and their medical system starts failing during a global pandemic, I think this also counts as a situation where a country should be helping it's citizens rather than saying "Well sorry, you knew the risk, we offered you the option to quit your job and come back home and be unemployed, but you chose to stay there. I mean we could set up a quarantine facility but if you come back we will send you to jail instead".
They should offer some sort of pathway for getting back, even if it means sitting for 2 weeks in a government quarantine facility and having to pay for the priviledge.
The 'Australians' in India are citizens of opportunity, who were born in India and retain their citizenship there, and the sympathy for them from actual Australians is zero.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_return
If Australia wants to implement quarantines, fine. If Australia wants to appear tough and make an example of people by denying them their rights, not fine.
Also if people would be jailed rather than sent back, it means gov can deal with their quarantine if they have to.
Are you even a citizen if you're not legally allowed to return to the country?
To think - thrown in prison for returning to your own country. It’s completely absurd.
