COVID-19 has left Australians like James stranded abroad, but 79pc of us want to keep our borders shut

Australian James Cater went to visit his girlfriend in Russia in February 2020 and is still stuck there.(

ABC News)

An Australian stranded in Siberia for more than a year has taken the step of applying for Russian residency, in the hopes getting a Sputnik V vaccine will help him return home.

James Cater travelled to the city of Novosibirsk in February 2020 to be with his girlfriend, intending to spend just a few months there.

But since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the 30-year-old has been stuck 10,000 kilometres from home with no end in sight.

“I wasn’t able to leave Russia because they had border closures that lasted until June. At that point … I decided I would try and get home,” he said.

“I have no income here, I don’t know Russian.

“None of these flights were actually going from Russia … [they were] flying from Germany, Frankfurt and Paris,” he said.

“So I would have to make an additional journey from Russia to go to Germany … at that point, I’ll be putting myself at enormous risk.

“If I was to go and get COVID, then I would be stranded in an entirely new country.”

When James flew to Siberia, the idea that citizens would be restricted from re-entering Australia was largely unheard of.

But it is something the nation has widely accepted, and the ABC’s Australia Talks National Survey 2021 has found a big shift in people’s views on individual freedoms.

Seventy per cent of Australians agree that sometimes, people’s freedoms need to be restricted to keep the country safe.

That is up 16 percentage points from the last time the ABC asked this question in 2019, when 54 per cent agreed.

As an Australian in Russia, Mr Cater is ineligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine there.

“I’m happy to take Sputnik V, but the only problem is I’m required [to have] temporary residence to be eligible for it,” he said.

“Now I’m in the weird position where I’m actually applying for Russian temporary residence, so I can get my Russian vaccine, so I can come back to Australia.

The ABC has contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to ask about repatriation flight arrangements for Australians in Russia.

The Australia Talks National Survey found 79 per cent of Australians agree the international border should stay shut until the pandemic is under control globally.

That includes similar overwhelming majorities in all states, regions, and age groups.

And it is a view shared even by people whose financial livelihood depends on international visitors.

Without international tourism and cruise ship visitors, Greg Irons’s wildlife sanctuary near Hobart has been losing money since the pandemic began.

At the worst point, Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary dropped to 20 per cent of its normal income.

“The whole feel of the place was just sad,” Mr Irons said.

“This isn’t a place that’s meant to be this quiet, this is a place that is meant to be a place of excitement, of education, and a place that creates change.

“I don’t know where the breaking point is for a business like ours and to be honest, I haven’t allowed myself to stop and think properly what would happen if this does go for say another three years.”

International tourists used to be around 20 per cent of Rob Pennicott’s Hobart boat tour business, but for the time being at least, he has managed to make the company sustainable.

Revenue is still down but increased domestic tourism has helped him stay afloat.

“I feel really strongly that the borders should stay closed to international travel until it is truly safe,” Mr Pennicott said.

“I believe that will be two to five years.

“We are on a knife-edge still, every week goes by and gets under the belt and I go ‘phew’.

“The truth is we could easily have a COVID outbreak from international travel.”

ABC