Rita Panahi: Cruelty of Covid travel permit system is Dan's disgrace

Thousands of Victorians who had done nothing wrong suffered terrible hardship so Dan Andrews could pursue his Covid-zero fantasy — and it did nothing to keep Victoria safe.

The cruelty and irrationality of Victoria’s Covid-19 restrictions has been laid bare again, this time by the Ombudsman Deborah Glass in her report into the state’s travel permit system.

The state’s watchdog found the system to be “inhumane”, a “bureaucratic nightmare” and inherently “unjust”.

The Ombudsman’s report, tabled in the Victorian parliament on Tuesday, found bureaucrats from the Department of Health were willing to leave people effectively homeless, stranded across the border, rather than help them return home.

Victoria already has the great dishonour of being home to the world’s longest lockdown, the most Covid-19 deaths in Australia and the greatest state debt — and now we have statistics around travel permits that are by any objective measure damning, with the Ombudsman finding a culture focused on locking people out rather than allowing them to safely return home.

Victoria’s watchdog found the state’s travel system to be ‘inhumane’ and inherently ‘unjust’. Picture: Simon Dallinger

The investigation found that only 2736 of the 33,252 exemption applications received between July 9 and September 14 were granted.

That’s fewer than one in 10 applications of desperate Victorians wanting to return to their own state to take care of family, work, attend medical appointments and many other pressing tasks.

“The result was some of the most questionable decisions I have seen in my over seven years as Ombudsman,” Glass said.

“The effect of a complex and constrained bureaucracy meant some outcomes were downright unjust, even inhumane. People felt caught up in a bureaucratic nightmare.

“It appeared to me that the department put significant resources into keeping people out rather than helping them find safe ways to get home.

“If there is a next time – we cannot let this happen again.”

During the period investigated, 2649 applications were submitted by people wanting to attend a funeral or say goodbye to a dying loved one. Of those applications only 877 were allowed to enter the state.

“People’s anguish when they spoke to us was palpable,” Glass said.Then there were the cases of elderly people in ill health stranded in poor living conditions in caravan parks wanting to return home for medical care.

Of the 10,812 applications made on “health and compassionate grounds’’ only 895 were granted.

Even those needing to come home to take care of their animals were shown little sympathy by the Department of Health bureaucracy.

The Ombudsman says if there is a next time we cannot let this happen again. Picture: Simon Dallinger

Of the 971 people who applied for an exemption so they could tend to their animals, only 35 were approved or less than 4 per cent.

One farmer who lodged a complaint was concerned about having to put down her animals if she was denied entry into the state.

Thousands of Victorians who had done nothing wrong were made “stateless” and suffered terrible hardship so Andrews could appear tough in pursuing his Covid-zero fantasy.

It’s worth noting those making applications were willing to quarantine for 14 days but more than 90 per cent were still denied entry and sadly many of Dan’s cult cheered on every harsh, inflexible restriction.

The impact of this inhumane idiocy was profound for every family impacted and it did nothing to keep Victoria safe.

Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist