Lakhpreet Singh with his Family
Melbourne resident
Lakhpreet Singh had travelled to India along with his wife and two children in
February where they remain stranded four months later.
Unable to book
tickets on the limited flights available, the 38-year-old who works as an
operator at a bank’s security centre said he is struggling to keep up with his
mortgage payments back in Australia while also paying for his family’s
prolonged stay in India.
“On one hand I
have exhausted my annual leave, which means I am living on my savings and to
add to our woes, we stopped receiving our fortnightly family support income
because we have been overseas for more than six weeks,” he said.
“The government
must start thinking about Australians abroad. They must allow people like us
who are stranded offshore due to no fault of their own to access COVID grants
so we do not deplete our savings and can survive here till the time we return,”
he said.
Rajveer Kaur
Melbourne-based
support worker Rajveer Kaur who has also been stuck with her family in
Rajasthan in north India said she has made multiple claims for support payment
outlining her family’s financial circumstances, only to be rejected each time.
“I am also
studying to become a registered nurse, so I tried applying for crisis support
payment available for residents who are studying to supplement their income but
they said I wasn’t eligible. Later I applied for JobSeeker payment but was
again rejected because they said you need to be onshore to lodge your claim,”
said Ms Kaur.
Dr.Gurdeep Kaur
Associate Professor
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College
University Of Delhi
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