Desperate NSW mum denied entry to see cancer stricken daughter in Melbourne

A desperate mum is being kept from her cancer-stricken daughter in another example of the health bureaucracy’s inhumane bastardry.

The Victorian health bureaucracy and the Dan Andrews government should be ashamed of the cruelty they’re inflicting in the name of Covid-safety.

Telling a mother she can’t provide comfort and care for her cancer stricken daughter is borderline barbaric.

We have already seen the inhumane bastardry that kept a mother from seeing her 16-year-old son for more than three weeks after he woke from a coma. Then there was the denial of an exemption for the funeral of an eight-year-old boy in Warrnambool, despite there not being a single case of Covid-19 in the country town.

Georgie, 33, has been diagnosed with an advanced form of breast cancer.

Georgie began chemotherapy on July 29.

Now, another low with a fully vaccinated Sydney mum being denied permission to enter the state to care for her daughter, Georgie, who is undergoing intensive chemotherapy for an aggressive breast cancer that has spread.

Katrina Anderson has not only received both Covid-19 jabs but lives in a local government area with no cases of Covid-19 and is willing to pay for two weeks of hotel quarantine to enter Victoria from NSW but her application for a compassionate travel exemption, applied for three weeks ago, was refused on Friday.

The family has been left distraught by Victorian health authorities. “We just assumed we’d get the exemption…but for some reason they eventually, after three weeks and my fourth application, declined it,” Ms Anderson told Sky News. “It’s the most devastating thing.”

Victorian authorities failed to advise the family why the application was refused but they did supply the number of a mental health hotline.

Georgie’s husband, Kael Hudson, has spoken about the difficulty of caring for her while working full time and attending to their two children aged two and four. “We’re from Sydney, we have no family down here, so it’s very hard trying to take on a full time carer’s role for my wife and look after the kids,” he said.

If health authorities across the country can grant exemptions for Hollywood stars and AFL players then surely they can find a way to accommodate a desperate family coping with what is already a deeply distressing situation.

Katarina Anderson, 62, applied for a compassionate exemption to travel to Melbourne.

Georgie, Kael and their two children.

Only last week model Jesinta Franklin joined husband, Sydney Swans star Buddy Franklin, in Melbourne after completing two weeks of quarantine in Queensland.

Denying a mother the opportunity to care for her desperately ill child is indefensible.

In a civilised society that sort of cruelty would be universally abhorred.

But throughout this pandemic we have seen too many people lose all sense of perspective and rationality and allowed fear to overwhelm their decency.

Premier Andrews said on Sunday he will “double check” the case and make sure “nothing has been missed”.

“It may well be where we’re at, there are a number of people who’ve got very good reason to come here, but the answer just has to be no”, he said.

On Monday he doubled down saying he didn’t “want to appear cold” but “we are having to say no to a lot of people.”

Health Minister Martin Foley was also unrepentant on Wednesday: “I do not apologise for backing in our public health team for taking all the steps that they need to keep Victorians safe.”

This is the same bureaucracy that defended Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton travelling to Canberra for an awards night and meetings in June during a period when five million Victorians had a 25km travel limit imposed.

One can only hope that media attention will see a different outcome for this family but you can be sure there are plenty of other similar cases of good people needlessly suffering so that politicians and health officials can appear tough.