Record numbers of Australians are trying to escape the locked-down nation - with border force rejecting up to 15,000 applications a month
- Almost 38,000 applications received to exit Australia's closed borders in August
- About a third of 15,000 people wanting to leave for 3 months-plus were refused
- In August 12,347 applicants were refused and in July 15,607 were denied
- Near 90% of applications to enter Australian on compassionate grounds refused
- The government extended the outbound travel ban to at least December 17, 2021
A record number of Australians are trying to flee the nation thanks to endless Covid lockdowns and border closures, but are being blocked by a ban on international travel.
More than 330,000 people have applied to leave the country since the pandemic began in March 2020, with only those granted exemptions allowed to escape.
The number of people seeking travel exemptions to exit Australia's closed borders grew most during the most recent New South Wales lockdown with 37,797 applying for exemptions in August this year - and more than 12,000 rejected.
The total number of exemptions sought to leave in August was almost double the figure in December, when 19,502 applied.
In July 15,607 applications received for exemptions were refused by the Australian Border Force.
Australia's borders have been closed to international travel since March 20 last year, apart from a briefly period when a trans-Tasman bubble was in place for several weeks in April and May this year.
Australia's borders have been closed to international travel since March 20 last year, but the number of people seeking an official exemption to leave Australia is growing - including those wanting to leave for more than three months (pictured, xxxxx)
Of the 332,810 who have applied to the Australian Border Force for an exemption to leave Australia since March 2020, 122,131 were refused, which is more than a third (pictured xxxxxx)
Australians have experienced continual closure of state borders, especially throughout 2021 - one of the factors leading to defiant protests. A woman present at a protest at the Queensland-NSW border is pictured with police
Of the 332,810 who have applied to the Australian Border Force for an exemption to leave Australia since that day, 122,131 were refused, which is more than a third.
Of those, 63,437 seeking to leave on compassionate grounds were refused, according to the Australian Border Force's latest Monthly Travel Exemptions Processing Report.
While most nations closed their borders during the pandemic, most have eased hard borders.
Australia's state border closures have been a source of frustration too, with people blocked from returning home after interstate travel and fined where they illegally attempt it.
Hardline Western Australian premier Mark McGowan has even claimed his state will likely remain closed off from the rest of the country for up to another seven months.
apart from a briefly period when a trans-Tasman bubble was in place for several weeks in April and May this year (?????)
On Father's Day hundreds gathered at the Queensland-New South Wales border (pictured) to celebrate with their dads across bollards keeping family members apart
On Father's Day, hundreds gathered at the Queensland-New South Wales border to celebrate with their dads across bollards which are cruelly keeping family members apart.
Some groups have interpreted the Australian Border Force's exemption numbers as proof Australians have become impatient with Covid lockdowns and want to relocate to nations that have dispensed with the strategy.
LibertyWorks, a group that ran an unsuccessful court challenge to our tough border restrictions, claims Australians 'are done' with the travel restrictions.
Share this article
'There are literally tens of thousands of people out there on social media and elsewhere saying we're done, we don't need this anymore,' said Andrew Cooper, LibertyWorks president told The Daily Telegraph.
The most popular reasons to seek exemptions in 2020 were compassionate/compelling grounds, travelling for more than three months and urgent personal business.
But by August 2021, applications for exemptions for extended travel swamped all other reasons.
Long queues for Covid testing and vaccinations are just two of the many frustrations Australians have enduring throughout the past two years (pictured xxxxx)
The federal government last week extended the outbound travel ban to at least December 17 (pictured xxxxx)
In August 14,900 wanted to leave for more than three months, but about a third were refused.
Of the 7,743 who applied to leave on compassionate grounds, the majority were refused: 4,749.
Meanwhile, during the pandemic only 15,251 of 118,528 applications to enter or return to Australia on compassionate grounds were approved - about 12 per cent.
Applications for an exemption to enter Australia gradually increased each month in 2021.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 'vaccine passports' were key to the next stage of the national plan when Australia's lockdown borders - both internal and external - will finally be re-opened.
Australians returning from overseas, with more than 30,000 still stranded by flight caps, can also use the vaccine passport to enter home isolation upon return instead of hotel quarantine (pictured xxxxxx)
The document will be accepted internationally so when Australians are finally allowed to go overseas again, they can travel freely.
Australians returning from overseas, with more than 30,000 still stranded by flight caps, can also use the vaccine passport to enter home isolation upon return instead of hotel quarantine.
The nation has effectively been cut off from the rest of the world since the pandemic began 18 months ago, with special permission needed to enter or exit Australia.
The federal government last week extended the outbound travel ban to at least December 17.
It will not resume until the national level of double-dose vaccination hits 80 per cent - a level that has been reached by very few nations.
Most watched News videos
- Russian soldiers catch 'Ukrainian spy' on motorbike near airbase
- China hit by floods after violent storms battered the country
- Shocking moment man hurls racist abuse at group of women in Romford
- Moment fire breaks out 'on Russian warship in Crimea'
- Shocking moment balaclava clad thief snatches phone in London
- Shocking moment thug on bike snatches pedestrian's phone
- Gideon Falter on Met Police chief: 'I think he needs to resign'
- Mother attempts to pay with savings account card which got declined
- Machete wielding thug brazenly cycles outside London DLR station
- Shocking footage shows men brawling with machetes on London road
- Trump lawyer Alina Habba goes off over $175m fraud bond
- Shocking moment passengers throw punches in Turkey airplane brawl
