It has cost David and Kate Jeffries roughly $50,000 since March in attempts to come home to Australia, including paying ongoing bills in Perth and funding accommodation in Canada.
Despite their many thwarted attempts to return, they remain stranded overseas with their young son Mitchell.
David and Kate Jeffries told a Senate hearing on Thursday they have spent $50,000 trying to get home.
"Living with the constant uncertainty of not knowing how or when we may be able to return home is exhausting," Mr Jeffries said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly committed to getting stranded Australians home by Christmas.
"I would hope that those looking to come home, that we'd be able to do that within months and I would hope that we can get as many people home, if not all of them, by Christmas," he said in September.
But in a hearing for the senate select committee for COVID-19 on Thursday, those who are still stranded and have been trying to get home since March said they feel abandoned by the government.
"Australia feels like the only country in the world with policies still in place ... that are having the effect to deny their citizens the right to return to the country. And that is about as un-Australian as it gets," Mr Jeffries said.
Since the 18th of September, 14,000 people registered with DFAT have returned to Australia, but the number of people wanting to return has ballooned.
Currently, 36,875 Australians remain stranded overseas. Of those people, 8070 were considered vulnerable, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade deputy secretary Tony Sheehan told the hearing.
That number has doubled since August, when there were about 18,800 Australians wanting to return, he said.
India, the UK, Philippines,Thailand and South Africa are the top five countries with people wanting to return.
On Thursday, Mr Morrison said he believes "good progress" has been made to get people home.
"Obviously, the ability to get people home to Australia depends on the available quarantine capacity in Australia," he said.
Department officials confirmed that was the issue stopping more Australians from returning. There is a limit of 5625 arrivals per week, which will rise to 6745 when Melbourne begins to take international arrivals again on December 7.
"We're working with jurisdictions to increase their quarantine capacity," Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet deputy secretary Alison Frame said.
She pointed to the ACT and Tasmania agreeing to take flights, and the Northern Territory also agreeing to take 500 people a fortnight through the Howard Springs quarantine facility, boosting the country's capacity.
Acting Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly said other things, including allowing people from New Zealand to arrive without quarantining has helped free up more quarantine spots.
When senator Kristina Keneally asked whether all vulnerable Australians will be returned home by Christmas, as promised by the Prime Minister, Mr Sheehan said DFAT "will do everything we can".
"We will endeavour to get as many people as possible home in time for Christmas," he said.
However some of those people will be in quarantine over the holiday period, and many will not be home before December 25, Ms Frame said.
"There will be numbers of Australians still overseas after Christmas," she said.
The hearing continues.
Rachel Clun is a federal political reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, covering health.
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2020-11-26 00:49:00Z
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