The Forgotten Ones

With the first pandemic in living memory our humanity and our public systems are truly being tested. We need common sense and kindness more than ever to deal with many unexpected logistical challenges. Unfortunately, as with other issues concerning our younger people, they seem to be the forgotten ones. This was our experience when state lines were drawn across livelihoods.

In May, my 17 year old daughter left home for the first time, having secured a job as a ski instructor at Thredbo. Within a couple of weeks, and having just celebrated her 18th birthday, Jindabyne went into lockdown and she was confined in staff accommodation with seven strangers ranging in age from 18 to 28. Quite a few of these young people were from Queensland and went there to work and then return home. Little did we know that a line on a map would prevent them from doing so, even though they remained in the same country.

At the end of the season on 30 September, all staff had to leave the accommodation and many of these young people became homeless. Some started migrating towards the border zone hoping that things would change and they’d be able to go back home.

My daughter was lucky. We have a family friend who lives in the border zone and so she had someone who was willing to take her in. Many others were not so fortunate. She applied for a pass to come back home and started waiting. Eight weeks later, she received a curt, one sentence email to advise her that her Border Declaration Pass had been refused.

Other young Queenslanders were also rejected, and mental health started to take its toll. Another girl we know of is sleeping alone in her car. Young people who could be home, in their beds, with their families, just a couple of hours drive away.

Those who finally got approval to quarantine were forced to drive to an airport and leave their cars behind to fly in. Now, instead of driving and having no contact on the way, they were forced into confined spaces with high risk travellers from all over the world, knowing that if they were ever going to catch the virus, it would be on that plane or subsequently in hotel quarantine where they would spend two weeks in isolation.

The idea that the government can prevent people from going back to their own homes for months on end with no idea how long they would have to wait, is just incredible to me. What sort of government would put their own people through so much suffering and pain?

I started to follow the stories on the Homeless outside QLD due to Border Closures FB group and was astounded by the cruelty of the health system towards its own people.

Families torn apart, people struggling to pay rent on the homes they can’t return to, losing jobs, going broke. Meantime footy players and their families came and went and Queenslanders cosied up in their bubble, ignorant of the pain and suffering caused by the freedom they were taking for granted.

COVID has revealed a broken system. Billions of dollars were funnelled to the rich while essential services like the health system were left underfunded, understaffed and unprepared for the scale of the crisis.

The forgotten ones will remember, and they won’t look kindly on the mess this generation of leaders will be leaving behind.