Stranded in NSW: Mental health toll for FIFO workers waiting weeks for SA Health travel exemptions to be processed

The heartbreak of long-term separation from family – and huge delays in responses to travel requests – is taking a mental toll for the state’s fly in, fly out workers.

Amber Briggs with her children Flynn,13, Ivy, 5, and Ewan,10, at their Ethelton home waiting for her husband Andy to return from NSW. Picture: Mark Brake

The uncertainty surrounding travel regulations for the state’s fly-in, fly-out workers is taking a heavy toll on their mental health.

Health and safety manager at Arc Wind, Andy Briggs, is among a group of wind farm construction workers whose lives have been turned upside by the lockdown rules.

It took an agonising six weeks before SA Health granted Mr Briggs permission to travel from regional NSW home to South Australia, where he hasn’t seen his family since June.

But about another 20 staff and contractors – among them an expectant father – are all awaiting word on their entry requests to try get to SA from either Boorowa and Yass in NSW.

“The consequences of not being able to get home are having a worse impact than probably the Covid-19 disease itself,” Mr Briggs said.

“There’s people starting to fray, getting mentally challenged, and so are their families.”

But the decision to return home for the FIFO workers has been made so much harder by the fluctuating state border restrictions.

Andy Briggs, Dylan Camac, Brett Bird, Mark Renfrey, Mitchell Goodmans from Arc Wind have been trying to get home to SA.

Mr Briggs said he still faced the prospect of again being stranded in NSW if he went home to see his family and then returned to work.

Instead, he’s considering staying on longer and then going home towards Christmas, so that he can be guaranteed to spend the festive season with wife Amber and their children Ruby, 19, Flynn, 13, Ewan, 10, and Ivy, 5.

Mr Briggs said people stranded away from home experienced such distress that there was a risk some might consider trying to illegally sneak across the border.

Wife Amber this week said it was “unreal” Andy had finally been granted permission to travel.

“It’s been a struggle for the kids … and it’s exhausting for me,” she said. “The kids have missed their Fathers’ Day with him and they’ve not wanted to go to school as much.”

An SA Health spokeswoman said the department was working to respond as quickly as possible to the “high volume of requests for travel exemptions” – but would not quantify how many people were waiting for their applications to be processed.

“Measures have been put in place to address delays in the response time for applications”, she said.

Travel exemption applications were considered, taking into account compassionate grounds and local epidemiology.

Tina Goode with Hendrick, 2. Picture: Supplied

LEFT IN LIMBO AFTER FIVE WEEKS

Five weeks after contacting SA Health in distress and wanting to return home to her family in SA, Tina Goode finally got a response.

She was this week pleased to hear the news that she and son Hendrick, 2, could move back to South Australia and reconnect with her family.

But she is now awaiting the outcome of a second application, also lodged last month, in the hope that the pair will be able to home-quarantine, as she cannot afford the cost of staying in a medi-hotel.

Ms Goode moved to Sydney 10 years ago but after a difficult break-up with her partner, she is desperate to move home to the South Coast.

She has a home in Port Elliot and has secured a work transfer.

But the radio silence she received after applying to travel back to SA on August 4 was deafening – she heard nothing at all back until Thursday.

She had also submitted a second application on August 16, citing health reasons, attaching a letter from her doctor about her deteriorating mental state, along with details about her Covid-19 vaccination and new home, where she could isolate.

Ms Goode emotionally recounted her story this week, describing the isolation she felt living in Bondi at such a tough time.

Her father contacted local MP Rebekha Sharkie, who wrote to Health Minister Stephen Wade about her plight, and that of other families connected with her electorate.

“I’m doing everything I can. I can’t move on with my life – I’m stuck in this limbo,” Ms Goode said on Thursday morning.

“You’re sitting there refreshing your emails 20 times a day to see if you finally get an answer.

“I’m not sleeping with the anxiety around that and everything else going on.”

After finally hearing back from SA Health on Thursday afternoon, she was grateful to have been granted approval to travel.

However, she is still in limbo as she expects she will be charged $3000 for a medi-hotel stay – an expense she cannot afford due to the legal costs associated with her break-up and expense of moving back to SA.

“I’m now faced with the heartbreaking decision to wait an unknown amount of time to see if my second application … requesting home quarantine, will be granted,” Ms Goode said.

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