Whanganui woman living in Perth says situation is 'a mass of confusion'

Whanganui's Paige Mailman, currently living in Perth, says with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, help from the Australian government is "pretty much non-existent for Kiwis here".

Mailman moved to Perth six months ago to pursue a career in the travel industry and said her current employment had been "stood down until May 31", along with all other employees at the travel company.

"I've just found out via email," Mailman said.

"If they'd given me a bit more notice that this would happen, I might have managed to get myself on a flight home for the next few months.

"As it stands, I'm stuck here in Perth without an income, and without the possibility of financial support from the Australian government.

"There are half a million Kiwis over here, and our government have reached out to Australia for help, but I don't think there has been any response yet."

Mailman said that her job had been "pretty stressful lately", and on one occasion she bought four separate tickets for one route in a bid to get a South African couple home.

"The first three flights were cancelled, but they managed to get on the last one," Mailman said.

"People are standing in line with their boarding passes, only to be told that their flight has been cancelled.

"I've basically been working through a stranded passenger list, rescuing Australians trying to get home; now it's me who's stranded."

Australia is "a mass of confusion at the moment", Mailman said.

"There are so many mixed messages from the government over here.

"There is no lockdown yet, and people can still go into shopping malls and even go to the hairdresser.

"I've still been going into the office, and there hasn't been any mention of self-isolation.

"It feels like when it does happen, it'll be too little, too late."

Mailman said she had been stranded in Sri Lanka when the country was hit by bombings at Easter 2019, and that travellers in Australia "must be feeling a similar way to that".

"It's an incredibly scary thing to happen, especially when you're so far from home.

"During this whole time, I've been thinking that we're super lucky in New Zealand to have Jacinda Ardern leading the way.

"Thank god we've got someone like her, we could use someone like that over here at the moment.

"Covid-19 is going to change the way the travel industry operates forever."

Mike Tweed
Whanganui Chronicle 28/3/20