An Australian traveler has criticized the Australian government for allegedly neglecting its citizens during the US-Iran conflict, stating she was “left stranded” in Riyadh by consular officials. The traveler, Trina Hockley, claims she was left to navigate her way home alone.
Hockley found herself stuck in Doha, Qatar, as the latest Middle East conflict erupted on Sunday. She was en route to Helsinki, Finland, when the situation unfolded, and now she reports facing significant challenges in her effort to return home.
Upon her arrival in Doha, Hockley described the city as already “deserted” by Tuesday. Since then, she and numerous others have been attempting to secure a way back to Australia.
According to Hockley, much of this ordeal has unfolded without any substantial support from the government, leaving her and others to fend for themselves. She expressed frustration over the perceived lack of assistance from official channels.
Since then Ms Hockley and dozens of others have been stuck trying to find their way back to Australia.
For the most part this process has been done without the assistance of the government, she said.
While the Australian government through DFAT did facilitate her passage through to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia by bus, the rest has been up to her.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong had previously said the Albanese government was focused on not escalating the conflict and would instead support regional stability.
Trina Hockley is stuck in the middle east amongst the US-Iran war
Ms Hockley says the Australian government has left her to deal with the situation herself
Ms Hockley said she was now in a competition with other Australians trying to get home.
‘The Australian government doesn’t want to know us so we’re on our own,’ she told 9News.
‘[The next step is] up to each individual traveller, I mean I’ve managed so far to get a flight through to Bangkok via Oman. I haven’t got Bangkok to Australia yet.
‘The costs are exorbitant and everyone’s fighting to do the same thing, There’s no help whatsoever.’
Ms Hockley said her flight from Oman to Bangkok had cost her $7,000 alone.
‘Every other country has repatriated their citizens either with charter flights or mass bookings. No one is doing this to their citizens, just dumping them in Riyadh and saying ‘good luck’,’ she added.
Along the 13-hour trip from Qatar to Saudi Arabia Ms Hockley said she was fed only an apple, sandwich and some chocolate biscuits.
Although she said there was an Australian official on the bus for two-thirds of the ride apparently they before any customs checks between countries, Ms Hockley said.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has supported the war thus far
Thousands of Australians are still stuck in the region
Now everyone who was on that bus is competing on unrepatriated flights from Oman towards wherever else they are able to manage.
This mean that each traveller could be out of pocket by thousands of dollars despite them being stuck in a warzone.
The transport is also extremely slow as the bus between Doha and Riyadh took more than five hours to traverse 100kms, Ms Hockley said.
On the same program that she appeared on the reporter interviewing Ms Hockley also said both the Foreign minister and Assistant Foreign Minister had declined to appear.
The Foreign Minister previously said Iranian strikes had disrupted air routes across the Middle East, triggering one of Australia’s largest-ever peacetime consular operations.
Wong revealed more than 115,000 Australians were in the region when the crisis began, prompting the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to open emergency registration portals and organise evacuation pathways across multiple countries.
‘This is a very big consular effort,’ she said.
Wong also confirmed that around 11,000 Australians had already been assessed as eligible for evacuation.
Nine flights have departed Dubai for Australia thus far, with more scheduled.
