First part of this series is here;
https://plebeianresistance.substack.com/p/trip-to-australia
Second part is here;
https://plebeianresistance.substack.com/p/australia-part-2
15th May to 22nd May.
You’re told on getting a positive test that you have to go home and isolate for 7 days. I was also told at the dystopian testing centre at Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport that the Victorian Department of Health would be in contact. But the first contact from them was not until at least 24 hours later.
You’re not given any information at the airport. So what do you do? You hop online to try and find out of course. But good luck as there are many websites to scroll even if you restrict the search to site:vic.gov.au (i.e. Victorian government websites) and they tend to contradict each other. Anyway the thing that you want to do is to avoid Mickleham like the plague (ha). A few days later I ran across some information on a Victorian Government site that you weren’t supposed to use public transport or taxis. So it’s basically assumed that you drove yourself to the airport and that your home is in Victoria. Technically you don’t need a negative test to enter NSW or Queensland so the idea of returning to the Sunshine Coast did occur to me. But I thought I might be pushing some toad’s buttons if I did that. So I booked into accommodation locally with the hope that I’d get a negative test in the next day or two, thinking that might get me out (from what I’ve since read this technically would not be the case). I didn’t get that negative result until Friday and at that stage I figured that the risk/reward of returning to the airport and flying out on your negative test (hopefully it’s not positive) when technically you’re supposed to be in isolation in Victoria is too high.
If you’re not isolating at home then some of the people who eventually ring you up (this was 48 hours later for me) will say that they have to check to see if your accommodation is on the list. I asked them to ring me back tomorrow at this point as I didn’t have the address in front of me and when they rang me back (a different person) I was ready for them and just gave my address of the very small apartment that I was renting for a week. That worked like a charm, they didn’t ask me if it was my home or not. The information about this on the various Victorian websites is also contradictory. Most say ‘your home or accommodation’ so technically you’re fine. But on the phone it depends on who you speak to. And they have their printed off form of questions that they need to ask you in the right order. None of them are normally Victorian health workers btw, this is done through some sort of contact agency.
You’re not technically allowed to leave your living space except for medicines or to get tested. This is not exactly healthy in my view especially if you do have a health condition of any sort (luckily I don’t but I still like my exercise). Also if you try and get tested then good luck finding an officially approved Government testing place. There were two near me according to online Government websites. Neither of them were actually offering this service though. I was told to go to one of the drive in testing stations about 3km away. Sure, that works (not).
On later reference to one of the Victorian Health sites there was advice that you weren’t allowed to go out and get food, that you could ring them up and they’d deliver emergency supplies to you in 24-48 hours. I had already got the groceries that I needed for my forced isolation as one of the other Government websites stated that this was something that you were allowed to do. This is your only choice if you don’t fancy a fast at this point and good luck otherwise, if you think they’ll deliver those emergency groceries within 48 hours you’re less cynical than I am. And god knows what that food is like. I’m of the view that your fast will be at least 72 hours under these guidelines. Hope you’re good on water for that long. And I guess the quality won’t matter at this point either. There’s always the chance that this program is not actually running anymore as well.
Many of these policies that appear on several online Victorian Government pages no longer apply. For example the $1,500 Victorian subsidy for Victorians who test positive although referred to on several pages actually finished in January this year and it’s no longer available. It’s as clear as daylight too that the overall policy is decided by politicians who fly frequently by themselves with their spouses and families staying behind at home. It lacks logic otherwise.
Could you completely ignore the isolation requirements? Yes of course you could, just make sure that you stay where nobody knows you as snitches are the main issue. I did my penance though and no I didn’t stay where nobody knew me. I kept to the rules as I wanted out asap.
When you get rung by Victorian Health chances are the person at the other end will be Indian. This was my experience 3/4 times that I was rung. You also get frequent texts from both Victorian Health and the local sector of that depending on where you are. You’re asked to fill in survey after survey after survey. You’re told that if you have any major health issues that you can get an ambulance for free but that you have to tell them that you ‘have covid’. In my circumstances this statement was rather ridiculous as I had zero symptoms of anything.
At the end of the isolation period you get a text from the area Health authority saying thanks for all the fish but they’re no longer interested in talking to you, bye. The Victorian Health Department just drops you, no goodbyes no texts saying that your isolation period has finished (an earlier text had indicated when mine finished and my last discussion with the person ringing on their behalf had also confirmed this to me).
I gave notice to the first person ringing me that I was only agreeing to isolation under duress and reserved my rights to claim compensation.
I did manage to change my Air NZ flight on the Monday out to Christchurch at about $578 for one at $458 (same flight). The ticket for this flight on this day varied between $458 and $1,000+ during the week. A few years ago such flights could go for as low as $200. But not now.
So anyway my isolation finished on Sunday which allowed me to attend to a few things that day. I met up with a friend for lunch in the afternoon. And the next morning I took the bus back out to the airport.
At the airport I expected that I’d have to show my evidence of isolation maybe my test result from the week before and that I may even have to get another test (which meant that I’d test myself first as I wasn’t going to put up with another week in isolation). I had tested negative to a self test in the last few days but I’m really not keen on these tests so I won’t do them if I don’t have to. Anyway despite the fact that there were several Air NZ employees and that I was early to check in, no other passengers around at the time so that any of these 4 or so employees could have asked me nobody did and I just assumed that they were now ignoring the requirement for a negative test. The previous week you could not get near check in without evidence of a negative test. There had been news stories to the effect that the requirement would be ending soon during the week so so it was an entirely reasonable thing to think in my view. At Melbourne airport the scanner accepted my NZ passport (for the first time on this trip) but I was then asked to go through manually anyway. Why, I have no idea. There were no questions about vaccination status at any stage. I’m pretty sure Australians who are not vaccinated, technically still not allowed to leave Australia, could actually leave Australia. I have no idea though if you’d be fined on your way back into the country.
The retailers and cafes in the international section at the Airport have mostly given up trying to retail from there. The place is empty.
Our plane was on time and was about 10 minutes early to Christchurch. A completely uneventful flight.
When I arrived at Christchurch I tried the automatic gates but got a big red cross. I was asked if I had a manual pre-entry form which I did have so I then went through the person checking these. At this stage I was asked why I had not filled the form in electronically and I responded that my phone was turned off. This was true but I also had been given the manual form the week before so I had just used this. I didn't see this as being a problem either but the customs officer seemed unhappy about it. She gave me a nice red cross and some red marks on my customs entry form. After I picked up my bag and there was yet another stop due to covid rules (not laws) and I showed my form and was then told that the two officers standing over there wanted to see me. It seemed that they'd been primed for my entry.
I was taken over to another space by an officer who seemed to be Chinese (hard to tell behind a mask) and told that I could not use my phone. I was not told why I was there even after I'd asked. I was just asked to give information which he mostly took from my passport. Eventually I was told, but not until about 20 minutes later that I was being fined for not having a pre-departure test. This seemed outrageous to me. I told this officer that I was prepared at Melbourne Airport to have to show that I'd just had 7 days isolation due to a positive test (with no symptoms) on the previous Sunday (8 days earlier). I was not ignorant, the previous Sunday we were asked at check-in for evidence of a negative pre-departure test. I thought it possible that I might have to do this again. It was not unreasonable therefore to assume that as this was not the case this time that the requirement was no longer in place, and considering that there had been some news stories to this effect this was my impression.
I also told the officer that I did have a recent negative test which was in my suitcase. As per this site;
"Self-administered tests which are not supervised a health professional, or free tests from community testing stations may not meet the Government standard."
"may not" not "will not"
The customs officer ignored this information. He also ignored my 7 days in isolation which is all that is required if you test positive in New Zealand. The law should apply equally to all New Zealand citizens and not differently depending on whether you have just arrived in New Zealand or not. The recent court case regarding this surely also applies in my circumstances.
I was fined $1,000 which I think is excessive. Another passenger in the same circumstances was fined $500. I briefly talked to this passenger. He was a frequent traveller between Australia and New Zealand and said that previously they'd also being asking for the results of tests when you boarded as well as at check-in. He stated that it was his view that it was time for this nonsense to end. Neither he nor myself were ignorant of the procedures. It's the procedures that changed in a week.
The officer said thank you for your cooperation. But I did not agree to cooperate. I was told that I was not allowed to use my phone and therefore had no access to legal representation. I was also not told why I was being asked to provide my passport to the customs officer.
It looks to be an attempt at entrapment to me.
I had the night and next day in Christchurch. I was harassed for the first time in 3 weeks about not wearing a mask not once but several times. A few times it seemed to me that some staff at bookstores and libraries love asking you this. At the library after saying that I was exempt the security guard (male) attempted to gaslight me into wearing one straight after his partner (female) had accepted my exempt status.
New Zealand you are going to frighten off the tourists (if they come back) with your mask obsession. All this nonsense (testing and masks) has to end and it has to end tomorrow.
Good grief. What a nightmare. I know it plays into the hands of this "new world order", but I'm just not traveling. I can't take it. I would snap and end up in jail.
This is completely insane. Wow.