Coronavirus Australia: As his dying mother slipped away, Queensland Health stayed silent

Anthony McCormick raced home from Canada to say goodbye to his mum. Cleared of Covid, he begged for compassionate exemption. And heard nothing.

Another overseas-based Australian has been stopped from being by the bedside of a dying family member due to the Queensland government’s harsh overseas arrivals policy and tight border controls.

Anthony McCormick, a Cairns man living in Canada, raced to get home to try and say his final goodbyes to his Brisbane-based mother after he was told three weeks ago she had cancer.

He spent three weeks and thousands of dollars on flights, but was held up at the last moment.

His mother died on Wednesday night, just two days into his 14 days of mandatory quarantine.

“She was diagnosed three weeks ago when she fell ill,” he told the Today show.

“By the time they figured out the prognosis, I was scrambling to get on board (a flight).”

Limited and costly direct flights to Brisbane meant Mr McCormick was forced to fly into Sydney.

As soon as he landed, he was in communication with NSW Health who worked to grant him a special exemption for him to travel to Brisbane on a special charter flight, as he long as he could clear a negative Covid test.

But he was delayed by Queensland Health authorities, who were unhelpful in allowing him to travel into the state.

“I could sit here and bash the system all day long. NSW Health were amazing. They had proactively called me before I even got on my flight, had the exemption plan all laid out and while I was on the flight they actually executed it,” he said.

“Queensland Health, on the other hand, were silent. It wasn’t until I landed and I had to start chasing them up and had to get things moving, I didn’t receive a single phone call from Queensland Health, yet NSW were constantly on the phone to me, calling the hotel room.”

“It is supposed to be a compassionate policy. I think these policies are very confusing about what compassion means,” he said.

It comes just a month after the Queensland government originally denied a fully-vaccinated man entry into the state to see his dying father in a Gold Coast hospital.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the government is working with state and territory leaders to have a more uniform approach to compassionate cases.

“I think you've just given the example of the case in Queensland and we have had some challenges in ensuring that exemptions are done rapidly,” he told the Today show.

“We‘ll be supportive of all of the states and territories, but ultimately, as I see this, these are people’s lives and these are the critical moments in their lives.

“This is a very important part of how we provide exemptions for incoming travel to Australia, or for outgoing travel at the international border level, but between states I‘d encourage and support that same compassionate approach.”

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant gave her condolences to Mr McCormick and his family on Thursday morning and said the state has always done its best to cater to these situations.