NSW-QLD border pain as families are separated and children miss out on surgery

Queensland’s border closure is taking its toll on NSW residents who need to get across for medical treatment and work. Some families have been split in two, while others are living in caravans.

Children are being denied medical treatment, families are separated and businesses are in despair as Queensland’s brutally hard border closure is wreaking havoc on communities that have no Covid cases.

NSW Cross Border Commissioner James McTavish said Queensland claims it allows medical appointments for border residents to qualify for a border crossing, but it is not happening on the ground.

Boyd Poisel, 15 months, needs surgery but his mum …

… Demi Redden says the hospital gave her a ‘hard no’.

“Lived experience is that is not the case. We’ve had hundreds of people contact our office indicating their medical treatment has been interrupted or refused,” he said.

“Some providers are choosing not to treat NSW patients because of their concern about Covid being introduced to their practice.”

All this while the families of NRL players seamlessly crossed the border, travelling from Sydney to Brisbane just last week.

Demi Redden would love that to happen for 15-month-old son Boyd. He was due to have surgery at Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH) this month for a branchial cleft cyst that has caused painful recurrent infections.

But Queensland’s brutal border closure means it has been cancelled and no one in northern NSW can do the surgery.

Ms Redden lives in the Tweed Shire, just over the border in NSW.

“It gets infected pretty much every time he gets a cold, we’ve been admitted to GCUH three times this year and his surgery was planned to remove it so this wouldn’t happen any more,” Ms Redden said.

“The border closed and we had a consult which I thought I was allowed to go to, and the surgeon said: ‘You shouldn’t even be here, you’re from over the border and we are not going to operate’.

“I said ‘can I get vaccinated, can I get a swab’ and they said ‘no, it’s a hard no’.

“If you are from NSW it is treated as if you’ve got Covid and your son can’t be operated on.

Demi Redden, her partner Bryce Poisel and their children Boyd, 15 months, and Zara, 3.

“His cyst is infected now and we need to see the GP to see what our options are.

“It’s extremely stressful as a parent when you have a 15-month-old that depends on you to make decisions, he doesn’t have a voice, but I can’t do anything.

“It’s a tough time for a lot of people, it’s crazy.”

Last year, the border towns lived in a protective bubble that acknowledge the economic and domestic coexistence.

This year, Queensland has resisted all pressure to reopen the bubble.

Border hospitals like Tweed and Murwillumbah are understaffed because Queensland-based ward, kitchen and cleaning staff, who are considered non-essential, are prohibited to return home without quarantining for 14 days.

Dance teacher Kelsey Collier is in Queensland with their children Silvie, 10 months, and Sonny, 3, while her husband Jay is in NSW.

On Thursday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the border will stay closed even if NSW reaches 80 per cent vaccination rate.

Kelsey Collier, 29, is stuck in Queensland. The mum of two lives in Casuarina, just south of the border, but she works in Currumbin as a dance teacher.

When the border slammed shut on July 23, Ms Collier, 29, grabbed her two children and moved in with her parents in Burleigh Heads.

“I’m the sole breadwinner at the moment because my husband is between jobs, so he is staying at home in NSW,” she said.

“I only had the clothes that I worked in and picked up the kids and took them to my parents’ house in Burleigh Heads. I didn’t pack anything. My partner was meeting us at the border to pass over clothes.

“Every day I just want to go home. My son is affected and I feel like a terrible mother, but if I don’t work, my students aren’t being trained and I’m not getting paid.”

Mark Walsh and his wife Suwannee were also caught out. The residents of Casuarina in NSW run an Asian takeaway on Griffith St, Coolangatta, about 100m into Queensland.

“We’ve moved to Queensland, we’re staying in a caravan park for $300 a week. Not getting angry is the hard part, with the stupidity of everything,” Mr Walsh said.

“It seems like it is just politics — 100 metres away from my wife’s shop is my architectural office, which is in NSW, so I am working remotely.”

Two employees working in the takeaway also live in NSW and can no longer come to work. They are currently supported by the government’s $750-a-week support payment.

Border leaders across the political spectrum have tried to come to a solution.

Labor federal member for Richmond Justine Elliott wants NSW to set up a checkpoint in Ballina to keep northern NSW safe because, with a permit, Sydney people can still travel there.

Mark Walsh and his wife Suwannee are living in a caravan so Suwannee can keep her eatery open. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“Currently people from wider NSW can still come here. Queensland is saying ‘while you still have people coming to the north coast, the disaster is still creeping up towards us’. I’d like to see a checkpoint at Ballina,” she said.

Nationals Tweed MP Geoff Provost blasted Queensland for allowing NRL sporting families from NSW to cross but not border residents.

“Why has the Queensland government prioritised sporting families over our border communities,” he asked.

“About 30 per cent of our residents in the Tweed work across the border. Queensland has been very blunt, even when we have had border bubbles before we had no leakage from here to there.

“And it’s heavy-handed by the NSW government by putting us in a lockdown as well because we’ve had no cases and none in the sewage, we are all doing the right thing.”

Mr McTavish said a range of proposals were offered to Queensland last week, including options for those double vaccinated who would also have a Covid test — but all fell on deaf ears.

“We were happy to work with Queensland on any of those proposals, but they have indicated they are not in a position to amend their current arrangements for the border restrictions at this stage,” Mr McTavish said.

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Originally published as NSW-QLD border pain as families are separated and children miss out on surgery