SA launches new crackdown on essential travel as exemption applications pile up

More changes to essential travel into SA have been made as applications for exemptions continue to mount, leaving many South Australians in limbo and away from their families.

A new crackdown has been launched on essential travel into South Australia as authorities struggle with mounting applications under a chaotic Covid-19 cross border exemptions system.

In a series of new legal directions, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens banned any new essential workers arriving from current restricted zones of NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

The level 6 crackdown, which came into force from 3.51pm on Friday, forces all essential travellers to apply for an SA Health exemption, placing further pressure on the shambolic process. Previously, essential workers could apply for permission to enter SA via SA Police.

But the direction, which Mr Stevens authorised as state Covid-19 co-orindator based on pressing SA Health advice, is not retrospective.

It states existing approvals will be maintained for “specialist workers in essential sectors and remote or isolated workers”.

Officials say the crackdown will help authorities keep the highly contagious Delta strain out of the state.

Mr Stevens also approved new supervised quarantine rules, which were also introduced after a directions meeting on Friday with senior police and SA Health officials.

The rules, which came into effect at 3.40pm on Friday, introduces a new day 9 test for anybody in a quarantine facility, such as a medi-hotel.

They must also take a Covid-19 test on days 1, 5, 13 and 17.

The new directions also allow for chief public health officer, Professor Nicola Spurrier, to approve in writing, a “quarantine facility”.

It also states emergency services workers who enter a red zone while attending an emergency will not be breaching laws if they have not been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Emergency services worker includes fire fighters, paramedics, ambulance officers, medical retrieval personnel, police officers and State Emergency Service workers.

The new crackdowns emerged as a miner stuck in Broken Hill desperate to enter South Australia to be reunited with his grieving girlfriend granted an exemption to return to see a dying loved one, says he’s heard nothing in five weeks.

Will Bosco, 33, says he has repeatedly tried to reach out to SA Health via the Covid hotline to get an update on his status, only to be told to “keep on checking your emails, mate, don’t forget to check your spam.”

Mr Bosco, who is speaking out in frustration, said he had been kept “completely in the dark” and the strain was impacting severely on his mental health.

“I haven’t got so much as a red receipt to say ‘Roger that’ … it is beyond frustrating, it is devastating, it just goes on and on you’re left wondering if your application has just gone into the ether,” he said.

Broken Hill miner Will Bosco is desperate to get to Adelaide to be with his grieving girlfriend after she lost a close relative. Picture supplied

Mr Bosco said his South Australian girlfriend and de facto, also 33, who had been working in Broken Hill as a midwife, got back to SA to see her close family member just before she died.

However, he wasn’t allowed to travel with her, given he wasn’t a direct relative.

“(My partner) has been grieving at our house alone in (Adelaide’s inner south) in isolation.,” he said.

Mr Bosco said he initially applied for a remote and isolated worker permit before seeking a genuine relocation exemption.

He said the only correspondence he had received was a generic email on Monday, advising of “a significant” delay in processing applications.

“SA Health continues to prioritise urgent requests wherever possible, with a 24 to 72 hour turnaround for compassionate requests such as end-of-life visits and funerals in exceptional circumstances,” the letter stated.

Mr Bosco said being stuck in limbo in New South Wales prevented potential SA employers from considering him for roles.

“I gave my current employer two weeks’ notice when I first put in my application … I am just lucky it is so understanding and has allowed me to keep working and stay in the accommodation it provides – my work has been amazing,” he said.

Mr Bosco said he had heard many stories of hardship, as well as cases that simply didn’t make sense.

“It feels like we have been forgotten about … we are 50km on the wrong side of the border, I feel completely in the dark, there are a lot of forgotten people who are really doing it tough,” he said.

“It is stressful. If I had some dates to focus on it would make it so much better, I could count down but I don’t know if it will be another week, a month – or three months.”

In a statement, SA Health said it was currently dealing with more than 7,000 applications, with around 200 being processed daily.

“The high volume of requests for travel exemptions into South Australia has resulted in some delays in the response time for applications,” it read.