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Posted: 2024-05-25 04:38:49

Australians arriving home from New Caledonia on a government repatriation flight have spoken about their sadness at having to leave the French territory, as civil unrest continues to grip the small island.

Seven people have died since riots over proposed electoral changes broke out last week – the situation inflamed further after a policeman shot and killed a protester on Friday.

It followed a visit to Noumea by the French President Emmanuel Macron, who has promised to delay changes to the voting laws in a bid to ease tensions in the Pacific territory.

Two repatriation flights arrived on Saturday, the first shortly after 5pm AEST and the second later in the evening, bringing a total of about 90 Australians and their families home.

In a post on X earlier in the day, Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said plans were also in place for additional flights to Australia on Sunday.

"We continue to help Australians outside of Noumea to travel to the capital, and we are making plans for additional flights onwards to Australia for tomorrow," she said.

She urged Australians who wanted to leave New Caledonia, but had not yet registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to do so as soon as possible.

Nicole Poole was one of the Australians who arrived in Brisbane on the first flight on Saturday evening.

"It's good to be home, but it's been a bit of a wait — for several days we've been packing and waiting to come home," she said.

"We didn't know what was going to happen, whether we would get out that day, so that's been pretty hard.

"For people living in the suburbs it's particularly bad, because [they] can't get out.

"The barricades that people have had to use to protect their suburbs — it's really sad."

A middle-aged woman with short red hair speaks at an airport.

Nicole Poole said it was good to be home after returning from New Caledonia.(ABC News)

Jackson Bradney, who also arrived on Saturday evening, was in New Caledonia studying on a New Colombo Plan government scholarship.

"It's worrying when you're looking out the window and you're seeing the city you've come to know and love on fire," he said.

"I've got loved ones over there now, my girlfriend is over there, so it's sad to have to leave.

"DFAT [made sure we were] safe the whole time … the whole thing has only been going down for the last 12 days, and each day they have been calling us to make sure we were OK in terms of wellbeing, and making sure we had enough food and water.

"As different events happened, they made the call [to get us out]."

A young man with a moustache, long hair and a straw hat speaks at an airport.

Jackson Bradney said DFAT had been proactive in checking in on Australians in New Caledonia.(ABC News)

Earlier in the day, Australia's consul-general in New Caledonia, Annelise Young, said 48 Australians and their families had been brought to Noumea from other islands and remote parts of the territory.

It followed the repatriation of 108 people from New Caledonia to Brisbane on two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) planes on Tuesday – among them Australian citizens and tourists from other countries.

The following day, another 103 Australians and their family members managed to leave the territory on a flight run by the French government, while another 95 Australians and family members arrived in Brisbane on Friday night.

French President Emmanuel Macron promised to delay any changes to the electoral laws, off the back of his trip to New Caledonia.

"I vow not to force the reform through, to try, for the next few weeks, to give appeasement and dialogue a chance, and to do that with due process," he told broadcaster France TV La Premiere.

A group of protesters on a sidewalk waving flags. A policeman stands near them.

People demonstrate as Emmanuel Macron's motorcade drives past in Noumea.(Ludovic Marin/Reuters)

"It's not a blank cheque because we can't accept violence and we can't give up on everything, that's not legitimate and it's not what our fellow citizens want.

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