‘Needs his mum’: Three-year-old Qld boy trapped in NSW
The mother of three-year-old Memphis, who has been stranded in NSW after repeatedly being denied an exemption to return home to Queensland, has fired back at claims there had been no requests.
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The mother of a three-year-old boy stranded in rural NSW has fired back at claims from Queensland’s chief health officer that the family had not made a request for a border exemption.
Dr Jeannette Young today said Memphis Francis could be allowed to return home to Queensland from his grandparent’s rural NSW property
Dr Young said “of course” the exemption had been granted, but claimed today was the first time she had heard of the story.
Memphis’ mum Dominique Facer fired back at those claims, saying she had applied for an exemption despite being told over the phone “not to bother” applying.
“I’ve put forward an exemption, whether they have received it or not, it has come up that I applied for an exemption and it was waiting to be reviewed,” Ms Facer said.
“Every time we contacted Queensland Health in regards to getting him home they said it’s not on compassionate grounds because he is with grandparents in New South Wales.”
“They basically said because the hotel quarantine was closed I was wasting my time, they weren’t going to approve an exemption.”
Dominique and her partner Mick Francis, from Howard on the Fraser Coast said goodbye to their little boy on July 9 when he went to visit his grandparents on a cattle station south of Griffith.
But following a snap hard border on July 23, Memphis has been unable to return to his family and younger sister Paisley after several exemption knock-backs.
Memphis’ parents and grandparents had earlier said they had been knocked back multiple times.
“It’s pretty tough when you’ve got your son on the phone crying, just wanting to come home,” Ms Facer said.
“People are saying it could be Christmas. It is devastating. Every day there is just no hope. We are in a situation now where I literally just don’t know when I am going to see my son again.”
It comes after Health Minister Greg Hunt called Queensland’s strict border policy a “profound moral failure” as a three-year-old boy remains trapped on a NSW cattle station and separated from his parents.
In a scathing assessment of Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s hard border lockdown that has not only split families, but locked out people needing medical treatment, Mr Hunt did not hold back.
He said the Premier had allowed NRL players and their partners into Queensland yet showed no compassion to trapped border residents nor young Memphis, stranded for two months on a cattle station in rural NSW at his grandparents’ home.
It comes as the State Government has copped intense criticism over its refusal to grant an exemption, with Queensland MP and federal Cabinet minister Peter Dutton describing it as a ‘terrible story’.
Ms Palaszczuk said in parliament this morning the Queensland Health’s exemption unit was in touch with the family and were working towards bringing Memphis home.
Angel Flight Australia have offered a free flight from Griffith to Hervey Bay if he is granted an exemption.
Ms Facer confirmed she had been contacted by an exemption assessor and was working through the process.
“I am absolutely happy, I am just hoping it all goes through, you know, I am just waiting for that green light so I can get down there and get to him,” Ms Facer said.
She said the support she has received from the Queensland community, some who told her they would leave the state if her son wasn’t allowed back in, has been overwhelming.
“It is really, really absolutely amazing and I hope anyone else who has been affected gets their story heard,” she said.
“All that matters now is getting my boy home.”
The Deputy CEO and Special Counsel of Angel Flight Alexandra Zollner said they were very happy to help Memphis return home.
“We are happy to help Memphis with air transport from his grandparents’ home in Griffith, home to his family in Queensland,” Ms Zollner said.
“We got involved in helping Memphis after a number of Queensland community members called to ask if we could assist. While this type of flight is a little different from our usual missions, we are glad we are able to provide this opportunity for Memphis, and his family,”
“Due to our fantastic volunteers, we have the capacity to assist with these types of compassionate missions which provides an important free service to the Australian community.”
It followed intense criticism and Mr Dutton’s call for the problem to be fixed with an apology.
Appearing on 2GB, Mr Dutton called it a “terrible story” and lashed Ms Palaszczuk and Queensland officials for not letting Memphis come home.
He ridiculed Queensland officials’ recommendation that Memphis fly home via Covid-riddled Sydney and do 14 days in hotel quarantine, and said the immunocompromised three year-old posed “no threat” to Queensland’s biosecurity.
“This little three year old boy separated from his mum and dad, I cannot believe common sense doesn’t prevail in a case like this,” Mr Dutton said.
“Griffith is an area where Covid isn’t present … (Memphis and his family) could have Covid tests at the border … to be separated for eight weeks, that is traumatic for him.”
Mr Dutton added: “His parents would be going to sleep each night worrying about their child … I think the premier should step in this morning and say ‘Look this has gone too far here, I’m going to resolve this issue’.”
”It’s a show of common sense and decency, and it should happen this morning.”
The defence minister also took aim at comments from Ms Palaszczuk in Queensland parliament yesterday where she claimed “every child” would be at risk if the state opened up.
“The Premier’s use of children as cover for extending the lockdown I just think is unforgivable,” Mr Dutton said.
“I think she’s made a very, very, significant misstep there and needs to apologise for that.”
Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (QCCL) president Michael Cope said the situation Memphis and his family were in showed “an inexplicable lack of human empathy and care.”
He said unfortunately, it was also not uncommon.
“There have been a number of examples in this period with an inexplicable lack of human empathy and care,” he said.
“There should be a right of review for these decisions. Everybody’s aware of people not being allowed access to see their dying relatives, but in relation to this child, what was the risk of this process?
“These decisions just smack of a complete lack of human empathy, as demonstrated on a number of occasions.”
Mr Cope said the QCCL accepted the public health measures are currently justified, however said they should not come above human rights.
“It’s pretty tough when you’ve got your son on the phone crying, just wanting to come home,” Ms Facer said.
“People are saying it could be Christmas. It is devastating. Everyday there is just no hope. We are in a situation now where I literally just don’t know when I am going to see my son again.”
Speaking on national television this morning, the little boy’s grandparents said “night time is the worst” for the three-year-old who is missing his mother and father.
Mark and Alex Facer said they were terrified that their grandchild was so far from home.
“It’s hard, because I’m always afraid that if something happens to either Mark or myself, you know, we’re a long way out,” said Mrs Facer.
“Mark still needs to have the jab, so do I. I’m frightened that if something happens, what is going to happen to Memphis?”
Mrs Facer said that they were fighting “not only for Memphis” but for families across the country in similar situations.
“This is about all the kids who are isolated from their parents who need to go home,” she said. They don’t need to go into hotel quarantine, they need to go home and be with their families. That’s all we want.
“This is not only for Memphis but for all the children who are isolated from their parents.”
On July 22, the Queensland government announced it would shut the border to the whole of NSW at 1am on Friday, July 23.
This gave Ms Facer and her parents just 12 hours’ notice to try to reunite the family or face two weeks’ hotel quarantine, a feat rendered impossible given the distance between them of more than 1500km and the Covid risk in Greater Sydney.
Since then the family have applied, but been knocked back for several exemptions as they were told they don’t qualify under Queensland’s compassionate grounds.
“I will go to any lengths to ensure that I will do the right thing just to have my little boy home” Ms Facer said.
“He is immunocompromised and we literally are the most isolated people. It is so tough and my mother is falling apart because she doesn’t want anything bad to happen to him while he is in their care.”
Ms Facer had offered to meet Memphis at the Queensland border, and drive him straight to their property in Howard, about 40km west of Hervey Bay.
She said she had a long-haul vehicle, which meant she wouldn’t have to stop on the way back to their isolated 16ha property. But they were told the only option was for Memphis and his grandparents to travel to Covid-ravaged Sydney to board a flight to Queensland where they would be put into hotel quarantine when they landed.
“It’s more dangerous for him there than it is letting him come home,” she said.
“It’s not about keeping people safe because they wanted me to put my son and parents in a Covid hotspot just to come home.
“I wasn’t going to compromise their health and safety just to come home. The whole thing with the NRL was just a massive, massive kick in the guts. I have been told that I won’t get approved about four times because it’s not compassionate grounds, how is that not compassionate grounds.”
NSW recorded 1116 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday. Murrumbidgee, the area where Memphis has been with his grandparents, has seen no cases of Covid-19 during the current outbreak.
The closest town to the property where Memphis is staying is Griffith, a town that has recorded no cases in the current outbreak.
“It has an effect on not only him, but on me. Does he think that I don’t want him, does he think he has done something wrong?” Ms Facer said.
Queensland Health would not comment on the family’s case, citing privacy reasons, but acknowledged border restrictions were “inconvenient and can cause disruption to people’s lives and livelihoods”.
“We must balance these factors against the serious health risk to more than 5 million Queenslanders,” a spokeswoman said. “The aim of the strict border is to limit the number of people entering Queensland who could potentially import Covid-19 into our state.”
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