Getting Australians home — the unfolding story: Frances Adamson

Frances Adamson, Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, was recently interviewed for the WORK WITH PURPOSE podcast.

Frances spoke about how her Department has supported around 300,000 Australian return home during the coronavirus pandemic since 13 March 2020, 6,500 of these were stranded on 51 cruise ships around the world.

Over 10,000 Australians remain overseas assessing their situation, contemplating whether they come home, or wanting to come home. The Department has supported them in making these decisions through its emergency call unit which has taken 38,000 calls since 13 March 2020.

‘Australians love to travel. Some people like travelling so much they stay overseas, put roots down and are very happy doing that until a time like this. And for many Australians in those situations they’ve had to make some pretty difficult calculations. Do they stay or do they go?

…Some of them are really a long way from home and needing our help.’

Frances was joined in conversation by host David Pembroke and co-host Holly Noble, Chair of IPAA ACT’s Future Leaders Committee and a Director at the Department of Finance.

WORK WITH PURPOSE is produced in partnership between contentgroup and IPAA ACT, with the support of the Australian Public Service Commission.

The podcast can be accessed from the link below and is also available on Spotify, SoundCloud and iTunes.