SECURITY … CAPT Braden Holmes escorts Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and COMD 3Bde BRIG Chris Field as the PM inspects a Guard paraded for his visit
But it was also frustrating as she always had to come home to St Petersburg where unsmiling , wary people filled the streets . She said years of communist rule had left people afraid of authority and afraid of what might happen . Her own family lost everything when the banking system collapsed . “ Like everybody else , we lost all our savings ,” she said . “ Everything was gone in an instant , and then people started losing their jobs .” The scar of the hard years under the communists remains in the memory of the populace . “ They ’ re afraid of each other , afraid of government , afraid of police , and they ’ re afraid something like that will happen again .” She said she was always a big fan of southern Europe and dreamed of one day emigrating to Italy , Spain , or Portugal . “ I started learning Spanish , thinking I might be able to go to Spain , or
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Argentina , or somewhere else in South America ,” she said . She finally found a way out when her best friend started dating a migration agent . “ He had a Russian background , but he had lived in Australia . Best of all , we knew we could trust him ,” Mila said . She said it was risky trying to arrange emigration papers because there were so many operators and companies who used that market to swindle people . But , with a trusted contact , it was a reasonably simple process to arrange permanent residency in Australia . Under a State-sponsored scheme , without ever having set foot in Australia , she found herself choosing between the two cities offered as first place of settlement : Canberra or Adelaide . “ I chose Adelaide because it was warm and I could live close to the ocean ,” she said . She booked a room through Airbnb , booked her flight to Adelaide and hoped for the best . “ I had no friend here ... nobody ,” she said . “ It was just me , my suitcase and my bank account . “ I had a lot of time on the 12- hour flight to Australia to think about what I was doing . “ I think I was just operating on adrenalin , I was very nervous , of course .” That was in July , 2013 . The money in her account wouldn ’ t last long , she knew , but , after doing a TAFE course , she found a job within a couple of months . Administration was her first choice , but she realised her qualifications would not be recognised here and her English was not as good as it has since become . So , hospitality work serving in hotels and at functions , paid the bills , and allowed her to live in Australia . She was just beginning to settle into her new life , she was at last able to understand easily what was said to her