Perth couple Candice and Chris Dix have issued a plea to the Prime Minister Scott Morrison to relax international flight caps so they can return from Ukraine and be reunited with their young sons.
The pair travelled to Kiev in July for the birth of their twin daughters, who were carried by a surrogate who became pregnant in November before COVID-19 hit.
Mr Dix said Australia's international flight cap was blocking them from returning home, with airlines saying they could not get the family a flight to Australia any time before December.
"We really need to see if they can get the flight caps adjusted, changed, lifted, so we can start getting some Australians home and back onto home soil so they can be reunited with their families," he said.
Ms Dix said she felt "abandoned" by the Federal Government.
"What country leaves their people in these situations, you know we're Australian, I always thought that meant mateship and compassion and empathy?" she said.
The Dix's sons, Arlo and Beau, aged two and five, have been living with their grandparents in Perth for months.
'There's a lot of anxiety'
Grandmother Shirley Dix said she was "absolutely exhausted" and worried about the children's mental health.
"They go through stages, there's a lot of anxiety, I see it in the five-year-old, he always asks when he's going home," she said.
"The little one is of the greatest concern, in the mornings when I go to pick him up … he just says go away granny, I want mummy.
"Then at night they always do a Zoom with their parents, and he just wants to hug mummy through the computer and then he cries himself to sleep every night."
The Dix's had their daughters, Starla and Odessa, via surrogacy after Candice Dix almost died giving birth to Arlo.
She said doctors had to remove her uterus to save her life.
"So I couldn't have any more children and that hit me really hard, so I ended up going and seeing a psychologist and in the end landed down the path of surrogacy because I still had my eggs," she said.
Ms Dix said she was desperate to return home to look after her sons.
"You know when I look at them they feel abandoned and that makes me feel really guilty as a parent, you know that I can't get there to make them feel better," she said.
"Our two-year-old really doesn't understand why we're here and often he'll get upset and cry if he sees us, especially if he sees the babies, he really doesn't understand this.
"It's just not a natural process at all."
When asked to comment on the Dix's case the Prime Minister's office referred the ABC to statements Scott Morrison made after a national cabinet meeting last week, in which he said state premiers had agreed more Australians needed to be able to come home.
"We noted that New South Wales has been doing all the heavy lifting on this, and they really are at their capacity for the time being," Mr Morrison said.
"And so, as I discussed with Cabinet during the course of this week, the Transport Minister will be working with others to see if we can get flights that currently all seek to come to Sydney, to see if we're in a position to try and get them to go into other ports, whether that be in Perth, in Adelaide, in Darwin, the ACT, or elsewhere, even Tasmania.
"Almost 4,000 Australians are coming home every week, but we know there are many more who are trying to get home, and further support has been provided to DFAT to assist those Australians, particularly in hardship, overseas."
