Jessica McSweeney: Premier has taken family reunion hope away

Just two weeks before I was set to hug my mum and make up for five months without her, the premier has broken her promise, writes Jessica McSweeney.

October 11, “Freedom Day”, was the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel of lockdown, the day I would ­finally see my family after ­almost five months apart.

There was a flurry of excitement, my mum asked for time off work, I started buying gifts ready to make up for missed birthdays and Father’s Day and got ready to buckle down for a few more weeks when all our sacrifices would be worth it.

The Daily Telegraph journalist Jessica McSweeney. Picture: Richard Dobson

We did this because of a promise, straight from the mouth of our Premier, that at 70 per cent vaccination coverage regional travel could resume and families could be reunited.

Now, just two weeks before I was set to win back my freedom, that promise has been broken and the hopes of thousands such as me crushed.

The announcement that the government had backtracked and now no one can leave Greater Sydney until the state hits 80 per cent vax coverage hit like a tonne of bricks.

Why is it that at 70 per cent I can travel all around the Sydney area as I please, drink at every bar in the city and host visitors from the Blue Mountains and Wollongong, but heading north to the Central Coast I’d be stopped and fined?

I’ve done all the right things during lockdown – I’ve stayed home, I got the vaccine, I’ve kept away from those I love with the promise of that light at the end of the tunnel.

When the Premier decided to again delay regional travel, it’s not families looking for a regional holiday that she is hurting – it’s the thousands like me with family outside Sydney.

Premier, I don’t care about a beer in the pub or a haircut – I just want to hug my mum.