People’s voice: outrage after NRL families into quarantine

Hundreds of Courier-Mail readers have vented their fury over NRL families being allowed into the state while Queenslanders themselves are locked out. SEE COMMENTS | VOTE IN POLL

Hundreds of readers have unleashed on the Queensland Government after the decision to allow NRL players’ families and officials into Brisbane despite the Government pausing interstate arrivals for two weeks.

More than 1000 comments were posted across two Courier-Mail articles, with people saying the decision was “disgusting, hypocritical” and “unbelievable.”

The Government relaxed the two-week ban on hotel quarantine to allow the families and officials into the state.

The NRL said the charter flight contained 100 players’ wives, girlfriends, children and officials.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

READER REACTION

Lauren: “This is absolute BS! I can’t get my fully vaccinated project team to travel 20 minutes across the border onto a >$100m project on the Gold Coast …”

Max: “Disgusting … beyond belief! CM journalists Qlders need you to ruthlessly tackle her about this at every press conference, starting tomorrow. It is time the people’s voice is heard and heeded.”

Geoff: “What a pathetic response ‘I didn’t allow it to happen’, well she hasn’t stopped it. If there’s a hotel for the NRL then there’s a hotel for QLD’ers returning home, this is absolutely astonishing. I hope tomorrow at the press conference they are hammered about this.”

Dianne: “Queensland has been home for 70 years. After visiting a daughter with medical issues who lives in Victoria we want to come home. Do we have to pay for extra accommodation in Victoria because we are not allowed home and then pay more for hotel quarantine in Queensland when we are finally allowed into our own state.”

Philip: “Correct decision. NRL is the glue to maintain our mental state in this pandemic. Should have free pass on everything.”

Mike: “I’m amazed. What is this Government doing. If I’m an ordinary person, I’m stopped at the border. If I’m a footballers family, I’m good to go. I just don’t understand.”

Stephen: “These governing politicians have lost touch with normal, everyday, hard working Queenslanders. They take advice from unelected bureaucrats or believe that they alone are always correct. But will we remember their poor decisions come the next election? We get the politicians we deserve.”

Tony: “Yeah … up until now I’d been a supporter of how she’s done most things. Anyone could have seen how this would play out and this mistake was a biggie …”

Phillip: “I’m fully vaccinated and I can’t go back to work in Queensland when I’m there we employ another 3 Queenslanders Anastasia is ruining your fine state I’m from NSW.”

Shane: “Premier please remember you govern for all Queenslanders, some of us want to see some compassion and not all of us care about rugby league.”

THOSE LEFT BEHIND

The fallout from the NRL arrival comes as the sister of a 72-year-old pensioner pleads with a “ruthless” and “inhumane” State Government to show compassion for Queensland residents who are “at breaking point” across the border.

Sandi Bonenti said that her sister Susan is “beside herself” after being refused entry into Queensland last Thursday despite the fact she had travelled to Chinderah just over the border once a fortnight for the last 18 years.

Ms Bonenti said she was left outraged after NRL WAGs (wives and girlfriends) were granted an exemption to fly in to Brisbane yesterday.

The Government cancelled all border passes on Wednesday but Ms Bonenti said that her sister was not alerted by authorities when she crossed the border on Thursday morning.

“My sister travelled from Coombabah to Chinderah last Thursday but was only stopped by police when she tried to return at 6:30pm that same day,” she said.

“She was told to find a place to stay until at least the 8th of September and that she might have to quarantine in a hotel for another two weeks when she gets back into Queensland.”

Ms Bonenti said her sister is currently paying $600 a week to stay in a tiny caravan park in Chinderah and also pays rent for her home in Queensland.

“I’m not sure where the Government expects this money to come from – my sister is a pensioner and is currently living beyond her means”

Sandi Bonenti (left) and her sister Susan Sice. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Meanwhile, Brisbane resident Gregory Preston has been left stranded in Albury, NSW, after his flight yesterday was cancelled due to the border closure.

Mr Preston said he was disappointed that NRL families and “not even the players” have been given preference over Queensland residents.

“From the very beginning I couldn’t believe that a state could actually stop residents from going home – I guess that is the biggest problem for me,” Mr Preston said.

Mr Preston was a full-time carer for his elderly parents for nearly a decade but was expected to re-enter the workforce on September 13.

“If I was able to fly back on Monday I would have had just enough time to quarantine before I start my new job in Brisbane.”

Mr Preston’s father died of Alzheimer’s-related complications a couple of years ago and his mother has now reached a point where she requires extensive care.

“I asked my now finance if she would marry me about a month ago and when she said yes I decided to come back to Albury to tie everything up and then head back

“Unless this border closure drags on I should still have a job but I just want to be back home in Queensland.”

Gregory Preston is marooned by Queensland's border closure.

Far north Queensland woman Fiona Lewis flew to Melbourne after her mother suffered a massive stroke and died on August 9.

The 61-year old said she stayed in Melbourne for a few weeks to relocate her 95-year old father into residential care, and had been booked to fly home to Mowbray Valley last Friday.

“When I saw that the Premier had closed the borders that was pretty unbelievable, especially given that a large percentage of people in hotel quarantine weren’t actually residents – they were relocating,” she said.

Ms Lewis is fully vaccinated and lives on acreage an hour outside Cairns, so she decided to apply for an exemption for home quarantine.

“I now live on a little bit of acreage so I don’t have any immediate neighbours and can be fairly isolated,” she said.

Ms Lewis also runs a medical centre in an Indigenous college in Cairns, and would be required to isolate longer than the mandatory hotel quarantine to avoid any significant risk to the community.

“A large majority of cases have come out of hotel quarantine, so I would need to isolate for longer than 14 days to make sure that I do not potentially expose students in those communities to COVID,” she said.

Ms Lewis is still waiting to hear whether her exemption has been approved, but said she was frustrated by “insensitive comments” that implied residents in her situation were at fault.

“I did not choose for my mother to have a stroke and I certainly did not choose to be stuck in Melbourne,” she said.

“I am basically suffering a double bereavement – I need to get home.”

Opposition leader David Crisafulli slammed the decision at parliament on Tuesday, citing a story of a mother who lost her son to suicide last year, she was hoping to come home to Queensland for the anniversary of his passing.

“I want to tell you about Joan and her partner Allan, they’ve got properties in the Glasshouse Mountains and over the New South Wales border,” Crissafulli said.

“She has lived in Queensland all her life, she has just heard about the sporting families coming into Queensland, she is livid.”

“She wanted to be home for the anniversary of her death, she is undergoing mental health counselling because of this situation, honest Queenslanders who just want to get home.”