Rockhampton man Chris Penna returns home after Covid border closures trap him interstate

After flying to Melbourne in July to support his daughter in a Family Court trial, a Rockhampton man became stuck on an isolated farm in regional Victoria, unable to return to his wife. Read about his incredible fight to get home.

Chris Penna back in Rockhampton after months stuck interstate.

A Rockhampton man stuck for months in regional Victoria because of Covid-19 restrictions arrived home on Saturday to quarantine and to reunite with his wife, ending a long period of anxiety and distress for the couple.

When Chris Penna flew to Melbourne in July to support his daughter in a Family Court trial, he did not expect the ensuing depression, anxiety, frustration, and heartache he and his wife would be made to endure by the “impenetrable bureaucracy” of the Sunshine State.

Mr Penna lives in Frenchville, Rockhampton, with his wife Mary.

Retired at age 74, he was fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of June, and at the time of his interstate departure, neither regional Queensland nor Melbourne were in lockdown.

The plan was to stay down south for two to three weeks and return to Rockhampton in early August, but the Queensland Government declared all of Victoria a COVID hotspot from July 17 and raised a wall around the state.

Until late October, Mr Penna remained holed up with his brother on an isolated farm in regional Victoria, “continually anxious about the safety and ongoing health” of his wife and, he said, suffering depression from having been “marginalised” by his own government.

“When Melbourne came out of lockdown on July 30, I assumed I would be able to return to Queensland in early-mid August without problems,” he said.

“But new events intervened.”

The Meredith region in which Mr Penna resided is more than 100km from the Victorian metropolis.

Locally, it was unbound by coronavirus restrictions, but the Queensland Government did not discriminate between it and Melbourne City.

Mr Penna and his brother, who is also fully vaccinated, were the only residents of the rural property, and Mr Penna had not left since his arrival there in early August.

Mr Penna at his brother’s property in regional Victoria.

No exemption

On August 17, Mr Penna applied for an exemption from hotel quarantine in favour of home quarantine since the cost of the former option would be “financially onerous” and because his wife “has an ongoing health condition”.

“Living alone has attendant risks and for this and health reasons she needs my presence,” he said.

“My wife worries about her safety and health as well as my circumstances, and is becoming increasingly distressed by the whole situation.”

He did not receive a reply, despite, he said, having being informed by Queensland Health that he should have done within 10 business days.

Mr Penna resolved to apply for a regular entry permit instead.

“I was desperate to return home and support my wife and willing, reluctantly, to undertake hotel quarantine if necessary to expedite matters,” he said.

But on August 25, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced a two-week halt of hotel quarantine for Queensland residents returning from COVID hotspots.

Five days later, that rule was suspended for 100 New South Wales rugby league players, plus their wives, girlfriends, children, and various officials.

At the time, the premier rejected the suggestion that sportsmen were being treated as more important than ordinary citizens.

“I didn’t grant the exemptions; the Chief Health Officer granted the exemptions,” she said.

“What I say to Queenslanders that are in other parts of the nation and want to come home: we are doing everything we can to look at alternative accommodations to make sure that you can come home safely.”

She later apologised.

Mr Penna said the decision was motivated by money and labelled it “hypocritical” and “a slap in the face for Queensland residents like myself simply trying to return home”.

“I found the Premier’s apology both vacuous and insincere, and thought it provided some insight into her character,” he said.

Mr Penna made little headway repeatedly phoning Queensland Health about his predicament.

“I found the call centre staff friendly and courteous, but in essence they were of no help in my situation as their responsibilities and powers were extremely limited by the rules under which they had been directed to operate,” he said.

“They had absolutely no type of access to my exemption application and so could not provide an indication of its current status or progress; they were unable to contact the people or office that assessed my exemption application, and so could not act as an intermediary and ask questions, etc. on my behalf; they were not able to escalate my concerns to any jurisdiction above their own level.

“Even a simple yes or no response would have been most helpful.”

Mr Penna updated his exemption application on August 23, August 27, September 3, and September 10.

On September 28, he received a response asking him to provide more information, much already expressed in his request, and was told the application “will not be progressed for consideration” until that information is provided.

The email from Queensland Health said if he did not comply within seven days, his request would “automatically be closed”.

Queensland Health told this publication that it would get in touch with Mr Penna “to further explain what information is still required to progress the application”.

“The Queensland Health Exemptions team works incredibly hard, under very difficult circumstances, seven days a week,” it said.

“We understand the impact of our decisions, and we are working within the boundaries of legislation, health directions, and protocols to ensure public health remains a top priority.

“We are doing everything possible to process exemption requests as quickly as we can.”

Chris Penna.

No border pass

In September, when the government began accepting returning travellers again, Mr Penna applied to enter Queensland and booked a flight from Melbourne to Brisbane in order to provide a date of arrival on his border application.

He did not realise until afterwards that the Queensland Government required 10 business days to process applications.

“The only prior website advice was that applicants should allow up to three days for a reply: the 10 days had not been previously mentioned and was not included in the application form, and such knowledge would have influenced the date of my flight booking,” Mr Penna said.

“I noticed several days later that the Queensland Health website was eventually updated to include the new 10-day wait period.”

Twelve days later on September 17, he received an email saying more than those 10 days were required because of “the increasingly high number of applications being registered in the system”.

“All applications for entry will continue to be processed chronologically and you will be contacted in due course by a member of the Queensland entry pass team in relation to your application,” the email said.

When he phoned the Queensland Police Service, which processes border pass applications, he was told to call Queensland Health, which is in charge of quarantine exemptions.

“This is a good example of bureaucratic passing-the-buck in a fruitless circular manner, leaving the customer uninformed and frustrated,” Mr Penna said.

More than three weeks after the initial application, Mr Penna’s border pass has not been processed.

“I can make no sense of my predicaments without interpretations involving incompetence, obfuscation, or deliberate misinformation,” he said.

“The Queensland Government provides no public data to support their claims about pressure and numbers, and no data that explains their inability to timely respond to legitimate government-provided requests.

“It appears that being fully Covid-vaccinated and living in regional Victoria in Covid-isolation makes no difference to my circumstances and assessment by the Queensland Government.

“In comparison to other states, Queensland appears to treat its returning residents with disdain, and perhaps distrust, and they do not appear to be differentiated from entering non-residents who obviously bring financial benefits.”

QPS would not comment on Mr Penna’s circumstances specifically and would not provide data about how many border passes it was currently processing, other than saying it was a “significant number” and they would be assessed in chronological order.

Chris Penna.

“The number of places available in hotel quarantine has been restricted to ensure Queensland has capacity to safely manage all categories of entry while responding to potential outbreaks and allowing capacity for close contacts,” it said.

“Anyone found to be breaching the Chief Health Officer’s Border Direction by entering Queensland unlawfully may receive a $4,135 penalty infringement notice and be directed to leave the state.

“The QPS acknowledges the difficult situation many people are faced with in Covid hotspots in New South Wales and Victoria, however, remains committed to reducing the risk of the virus spreading into Queensland.

“If applicants are experiencing specific hardship or other urgent circumstances requiring greater prioritisation, they should make a submission through the Queensland Health exemptions process.”

‘A big black hole’

Mr Penna even offered to be a “guinea pig” for a home quarantine trial that might incorporate facial recognition and GPS technology as does the app being tested by the South Australian government for some interstate travellers, criticised widely as totalitarian.

He has filed complaints with the Department Liaison Office – which have gone unanswered – and with the Queensland Ombudsman and the Queensland Human Rights Commission.

He said to the Human Rights Commission that if he were young and a rugby league player, he “would have been granted entry promptly”.

“I feel like it’s a big black hole,” Mr Penna said.

“Have you ever read Franz Kafka’s novels?

“It’s just like an impenetrable bureaucracy.”

His wife Mary said the emotional toll of separation from her husband was “compounded by the promises and the misinformation” of government departments and officials.

“You think your situation’s going to be resolved,” she said.

“There’s this constant carrot that’s continually out of reach.

“I was recovering from anxiety and I have a serious health issue as well that’s ongoing; I have tests for it, etc., and they have lots of repercussions on your health. There’s no one around you.

“They’re saying ‘Keeping Queenslanders safe for Queenslanders’, but then it’s not safe for Queenslanders who have left the state.”

She said opaque processes opened the doors to dishonesty.

“Why isn’t it transparent?” Mary said.

“There should be a list of those who applied.

“It’s a mystery and it’s open to nepotism and corruption. It’s not democratic.”

Chris and Mary.

Correspondence

Aside from the above correspondence, Mr Penna emailed the following politicians on September 20 about his situation.

• Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk
• Deputy Premier Steven Miles
• Health Minister Yvette D‘Ath
• Member for Keppel Brittany Lauga
• Member for Rockhampton Barry O’Rourke
• Treasurer Cameron Dick
• Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman
• Seniors Minister Craig Crawford
• Police Minister Mark Ryan
• Member for Burnett Stephen Bennett
• LNP leader David Crisafulli
• Shadow Treasurer David Janetzki
• Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates
• Shadow Attorney-General Tim Nicholls
• Shadow Seniors Minister John-Paul Langbroek
• Shadow Police Minister Dale Last
• Shadow Employment Minister Brent Mickelberg
• Shadow State Development Minister Fiona Simpson

“I am extremely frustrated and annoyed, and the circumstances have affected my mental health,” Mr Penna wrote to them.

“I have many documents that support my experiences and my story, as indicated in the attached account itself.

“You, as relevant and responsible members, are my first port of call, and I trust you can contribute to resolving my situation in a timely manner, and are willing to read my story.”

Emailing the next day, the office of Mr Last was the first to get in touch, followed by representatives of Mr Crisafulli.

Mr Penna’s local member Brittany Lauga phoned him after speaking with The Morning Bulletin on September 29 and afterwards said she felt “heartbroken” for what Mr Penna had been through.

“I think that Mr Penna’s been through an awful time and I really do sympathise with him about his trip to Victoria and trying to get back home,” she said.

“I’m sure that people are emotionally and mentally affected by lockdowns and the way in which people can and can’t get in and out of the state: that’s been one of the terrible challenges of this pandemic.

“I also acknowledge all of the things that people have missed out on as a result – the births, the deaths, the marriages, the celebrations, the anniversaries – a lot of people have missed out on being able to be there for their friends and family.”

She would not offer her own opinion on whether rugby league players should have been let into Queensland during the hotel quarantine moratorium, saying only that “the Premier’s been really clear and she apologised after this happened and the hotel quarantine cap was lifted”.

Ms Lauga would not say whether she thought that apology implied a mistake was made or whether it was reasonable for regular residents to have felt frustrated by that state of affairs.

She said that to make the conditions of Covid easier on people, testing and vaccination rates needed to increase, and the state needed a dedicated quarantine facility.

Queensland Health also phoned Mr Penna on September 29, less than a day after receiving questions from this publication about his case.

Hours later, the Departmental Liaison Office acknowledged his September 3 complaint.

“I have escalated your complaint to the Health Directions Exemptions team,” the DLO said.

“I have also phoned them and requested they contact you regarding your application.”

Mr Penna said the Queensland Health worker who phoned him seemed to acknowledge that Queensland residents had “fallen through the cracks” in favour of people relocating from New South Wales and Victoria.

“She said, ‘I got a red flag on your application; it’s been sitting there in limbo for too long, and I’m trying to progress it starting today.’

“I was the first one of those they were dealing with because my case had been submitted so long ago.

“The information of the phone call was that it could be approved without me submitting responses to the email [received on Tuesday].

“If I get treated differently because there’s a press thing coming up, then that’s as disgraceful as the period of time that it’s taken to respond to my applications.”

Queensland Health did not provide the number of exemption requests with which it was dealing, and said that rugby league players were allowed into the state earlier in September because they had an “industry exemption” by which quarantine is managed by the industry applicant – in this case the National Rugby League.

It did not respond to Mr Penna’s claim that such exemptions were financially motivated.

Mr Penna was told by the Queensland Police Service that as of October 1, there were 8310 border declaration pass applications pending assessment and being processed in a chronological order.

It said there was an average of 706 applications processed each week and 245 available quarantine rooms.

Mr Penna and Angel Flight pilot Shaun Aisen.

Getting home

On September 30, a Queensland Health email confirmed that on compassionate grounds, Mr Penna would be permitted to travel to Brisbane for a fortnight of quarantine.

His application for home quarantine was refused.

But in early October, the charity Angel Flight got in touch with Mr Penna, and by October 12, it had organised to fly him directly to Rockhampton.

Since he was avoiding the need to stop in Brisbane for a commercial connecting flight, and thus negating the risk of Covid transmission, Mr Penna's home quarantine application was granted.

On October 23, pilot Shaun Aisen touched down at Rockhampton Airport with Mr Penna in tow.

"The flight was wonderful," Mr Penna said. "I enjoyed it thoroughly.

"I'm very grateful to Angel Flight and Shaun for bringing me back to Rocky.

"I'm very thankful to be in Rocky, and I'm very excited to be going home and being with my wife once again."

He said the time in quarantine would pass quickly in Mary's company.