I can’t understand how any state government can give its citizens such a short time frame to get home then ban them, it beggars belief I thought this was Australia
Straya
Good point
@DRW . However, where do you draw the line for time?? 5 days, a week, 14 days ..... How many would really try to extend their time beyond the shortest time? Most, and we know a lot of them are far from truthful! And all the time they are wandering around in a possible "hot spot" area and then bring the virus back into Queensland at their leisure. Tough I agree, but necessary for the good of all. That is the real Australia at the moment.
Just to add a little real-world spin on it.
A phone call to DHHS Covid hotline the day prior to the $hit hitting the fan and mad dash home they were completely clueless and no answers to most basic of questions. The answer to every question was I should check the website
We were 4 hours drive north of the nearest NSW covid area, not Covid person just the nth boundary of the closest local council area where a Covid case was located. Our house in Melb is dead smack in the middle of the area worst hit with the recent Vic Covid infections, so the overreaching border closeure and mad dash home was to leave a safe Covid free zone and drive straight into a Covid hot spot
We drove 16 hours to get to the border after we missed the previous offer where they gave all Victorians just 5 hours notice to get to the border and then home, 20 hours drive away. 16 hours behind the wheel is 4 hours more than every Govt in this country has agreed is the absolute safe maximum limit even for experienced professional drivers, never mind the butchers and bakers and candle stick makers that are driving a combined mass that in any other circumstances would require a Heavy licence endorsement
On a cool pleasant suburban day, with car windows open and a gentle cooling breeze and plenty of food and water, if anybody left their child strapped in a child restraint in a car out in the driveway for 16 hours straight what would be the outcome after a passing good samaritan rang DHHS. Sympathy maybe ???
Our State Govt has no way of establishing the bonafides of where people say they have and haven't been, and they are relying 100% on people's honesty but are letting some through and locking others out anyway. Thats locking people out away from their homes and work and families with no plan in place whatsoever to address that. Some of the people locked out and coming from Covid free places further away than us, and who had been in their cars effectively isolating at lot longer than I was in their crazy dash south. They let me through, but not them.
After 16 hours driving in the mad dash south there was no way I was continuing to Melb anyway, so we camped overnight on the banks of the Murray, far away from anyone else. We have 6 other people who live in our house and need to work, care for kids and move around freely. They were told by DHHS that the moment we arrived home they in turn would require isolation for 14 days which would then in turn impact our isolation further because once our isolation was up we would be subject to their isolation. We stayed on the Murray because there was nothing of interests that addressed this issue on the DHHS Covid website and attempting to clarify the issue from previous experience calling the Covid hotline would refer us to the website whih we already know doesnt help.
To get the border permit we are bound to agree to get a Covid test within 24hrs, but the testing points were completely overrun and our local one was turning the same people away for 3 days running. The Health Minister says on the news "we can't just turn this on and off over night" ..... its not like this has been going on for a year and we've already experienced the most draconian lockdowns in the world. We had no hope of complying. We defied the requirement to isolate at home, and we got tested locally.
Victoria has a "border bubble" where nsw driver licence border post codes allow poeple along the border in NSW free range to cross the border into Vic back and forwards at will completely unchecked, a situation that is still effect. It is understood these nsw are in a presumptive Covid free area so labeled by nsw not Vic. Returning Vic folk are returning from Covid free area so labeled under the same system yet are refused entry into their own state. Vic has no control over where the NSW Barooga residents go to in nsw including hot zones, and no control over where people in nsw hot zones travel to including Barooga. Victorian residents are trapped in Barooga NSW and watch on helplessly whilst unregulated Barooga residents with no controls over their movements can freely cross backwards and forwards through the check point charlie completely unchecked, while Victorian folk are trapped outside the wire with no help, support, guidance and no suggestion any will be forthcoming.
Our border guard was a Forestry guy who did not give crap and could not possibly been less interested. He didnt examine any of the 3 x tiny border permits of the tiny phone screen. He glanced at the Princess's licence held up on the other side of the car and did not even look at my licence at all ... 3 hours later this farce ended in the border snapping shut and turning Victorian people ariving at that point into unsupported and Stateless refugees.
Im really needing some guidance as to how any of this is serving, protecting or managing anything or anyone.
