Albury: Victorians stranded in NSW, rejected by government

A regional Victorian fully vaccinated grandmother stuck in NSW broke down in tears as she explained just how desperate she is to get home.

Geelong couple Denis and Katrina Leahy have been stuck in an Albury caravan park for nearly a month after the health department rejected their border crossing application three times. (Picture: Supplied)

Victorians are still stuck on the NSW side of the border, some being rejected three times trying to get home.

One Geelong couple has spent 21 days stuck at Lake Hume Caravan Park in Albury, on the Victorian-NSW border.

Fully vaccinated Denis and Katrina Leahy has had their exemptions rejected three times.

They drove to Queensland in June to care for Mr Leahy’s elderly parents while his father had surgery for cancer.

Mr Leahy said it was unfair for the Victorian Government to leave its own people trapped.

“There’s other Victorians similar to us up and down the border,” he said.

“They’re good people ... it’s unfair.

“We’d like to get home and the frustration is ... we’re no risk at all. We’ve been in Albury for 20 days and Albury hasn’t had a case in a long time.”

The couple’s first exemption “lapsed” because to the health department being too slow to process it.

The second was rejected because the department needed “to protect the public health”.

The couple submitted their third application to provide care for their 14-year-old blind, deaf and diabetic dog, Angus, but that was rejected too.

Angus has contracted pancreatitis and had needed a $1000 trip to the vet.

The couple has lodged fourth application but are not holding out hope they will be able to return to Victoria.

Since arriving in Albury the couple has taken five Covid tests and all have been negative.

Grant and Diana Trewin from Lara, near Geelong, have been stranded at a caravan park at Hastings Point just south of the Queensland border for almost a month.

Mrs Trewin says she is depressed, sleep-deprived, and desperate to return home to her family.

When Mrs Trewin moved to Australia from the UK in 1972 she said she fell in love with the country but right now she didn’t recognise it.

“This isn’t the Australia I know and love,” she said.

“We’re not in it together. Right now we’re alone.

“I spoke to my grandchildren the other night and they said, ‘Nanna, when are you coming home?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know’. There was nothing else I could say.”

Mr Trewin added: “There is no indication of when we will be able to get home.”

“There are people worse off than us but Diana is not coping. We are not at risk. All we are asking is for a plan, for common sense … and (for the Victorian Government to have) enough courage to get us home.”

Federal Liberal senator Sarah Henderson said the Victorian Government needed to let people return home.

“What sort of country are we living in which denies Victorians the right to return to their homes?” she said.

“Victorians, on the whole, accept the need for sensible and proportionate public health restrictions.

“They understand the importance of following the rules, getting vaccinated and helping stop the spread of Covid but in Victoria, the situation is beyond a joke.

“The mental health and financial toll is mounting. There are too many examples of unjustified, blatant abuses of power. I say to Daniel Andrews, enough is enough, let Victorians come home.”

The Victorian Health Department was contacted for comment.

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