Australians evacuated from New Caledonia after being stranded during more than a week of violent protests have been expressing their relief at returning home. Two Royal Australian Air Force planes landed in Brisbane on Tuesday night, carrying 108 Australians and other tourists stranded by the closure of the French Pacific territory’s international airport. Meanwhile, the New Zealand military flew 48 people into Auckland.
France has said it expects to evacuate around 500 people on military aircraft – starting on Wednesday. French President Emmanuel Macron is on his way to the territory – which has seen its most serious unrest in decades – and will arrive on Thursday. He’ll be accompanied by others including by the country’s interior minister and armed forces minister to set up a dialogue mission.
His travel to the riot-hit island comes after more than a week of unrest there over his government’s voting reform plans, which have been rejected by indigenous Kanaks. Indigenous leaders say the plans, which will allow more French residents to vote in local elections, will dilute the political influence of native people. Among the 108 people on the Australia-assisted rescue flights were Mary Hatten and her family, who were on holiday in the usually idyllic destination.
“By [last] Tuesday morning...
the place was just in a mess, which was very sad for the locals, for the tourist industry, and I suppose to some extent for our own personal enjoyment. We were pretty much .
