primarily cargo...

Have you looked into flying down on Atlas or Kalitta? Might be a more comfy ride and guaranteed seat. Kalitta usually has a direct flight LAX-SYD.

No I havent. Good idea. Can I look that up on MyIdtravel or ID 90?

sent ya a msg with Kalitta jumpseat info They are really easy and just have to fill out a pdf form they send ya once u list. Out of lax you go to a hangar just next to fedex.
plus you have to do all your visa info on your own but as you said you are a dual citizen so no big deal.
I just use flightaware to find an idea of the flight number and times. They are a great and easy option.

There is a 50 pax cap for Sydney arrivals for the next two weeks and Melbourne has stopped all international arrivals apparently due to hotel quarantine issues.

I don’t believe there is a 50 pax cap for outbound.

Arrived in SYD on Kalitta about a week ago (I have a right to enter Australia btw).

Since Atlas suspended international jumpseating, I was limited to Kalitta, great crew by the way.

Australia Border Force chick was mean as hell, questioning me why I was taking a cargo flight instead of pax carrier. She insisted I take a pax carrier back to the U.S but I don't see any directive from The Australian government explicitly forbidding jumpseating. May be they are dying to get your $100-ish departure tax.

Upon arrival, the crew went their own way to the hotel, I was escorted to go through the immigration and I was literally the only one in the terminal.

NSW police showed up and brought me to a quarantine hotel for 14 nights.

Food is very decent, the menu changes every day but you are allowed to order groceries and one uber eats per day.

7 more nights to go :(

Ilyushin96,

if you wanted to, could you depart AUS prior to 14 days to jumpseat out?

Asking for a friend.....

No, one must complete 14 days at government designated hotels.

Does the government pay for the hotel or is it at your expense?

seriously?