Do they get a bill?

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Originally Posted by V8Ian

They were ill equipped. A PLB is for mayday situations, they were in a pan situation, for which a satphone or VHF is perfectly adequate.
Had they bothered to equip themselves with all the appropriate comms, there would have been no need to send a chopper with the satphone.

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And so why have authorities now decided to pull them out if the situation is not life threatening. The guy said in an interview this morning that he activated the PLB because hot weather was forecast for this week and was concerned for their safety - the authorities agree and that is the same reason they were pulled out this morning.

They weren't rescued for a couple of days, so it wasn't a mayday. Light planes may be less costly than rotary wing craft, but they're still not cheap to operate.

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Originally Posted by V8Ian

They weren't rescued for a couple of days, so it wasn't a mayday. Light planes may be less costly than rotary wing craft, but they're still not cheap to operate.

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Easy to make such judgements from the comfort and safety of your armchair.

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Originally Posted by 101RRS

Easy to make such judgements from the comfort and safety of your armchair.

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The lack of proper and basic comms has a direct influence on my judgment.

They had a messaging distress beacon, sent a message to family they were stuck.

Those people escalated it.

The family was well equipped, prepared and couldn’t not foresee the event which got them caught.

No bill required…

As for the extraction, that was Government choice for their ongoing welfare. They’ll still need to pay for recover of vehicle later on.

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Originally Posted by Tombie

They had a messaging distress beacon, sent a message to family they were stuck.

Those people escalated it.

The family was well equipped, prepared and couldn’t not foresee the event which got them caught.

No bill required…

As for the extraction, that was Government choice for their ongoing welfare. They’ll still need to pay for recover of vehicle later on.

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They have said they are going back to Perth for Christmas, then come back next year to retrieve the truck. All of Australia now knows its there. I hope its still there in one piece when they go back...

Public money is everyday for people that haven’t ‘prepped or planned’ properly. It’s made the news so everybody jumps onto the band wagon.

For those calling for a bill to be sent…..I’m sure if/when you are in need of assistance using public money my guess is you won’t be actively seeking the invoice.…..

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Originally Posted by Tombie

They had a messaging distress beacon, sent a message to family they were stuck.

Those people escalated it.

The family was well equipped, prepared and couldn’t not foresee the event which got them caught.

No bill required…

As for the extraction, that was Government choice for their ongoing welfare. They’ll still need to pay for recover of vehicle later on.

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Knowing the area as we do - I'd be betting it was the flies that was their deciding factor in getting the hell out of there. [bigwhistle]

On a serious note though - I certainly agree that this family has done nothing wrong at all, and any belief that they should be made to pay for their rescue is laughable.

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Originally Posted by 101RRS

Easy to make such judgements from the comfort and safety of your armchair.

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It is also so easy to simply panic and activate a distress beacon and expect someone else to get you out of strife[bigwhistle]

as I recall hearing it (not from public media)


the family were happy to camp it out until they could be recovered.

the rescue was elevated on their behalf due to a predicted series of high temps in conjunction with the waterlogged area and low winds for the time period.

high temp, high humidity 2 very young kids.

could be wrong but if those are the pertinent facts, I dont see the need to have them foot the bill...