Coronavirus: Sydney couple released after hotel quarantine chaos

Couple vow to take action against Vic government, alleging they were “wrongly detained” for six-days in a Melbourne hotel.

Sydney couple Zaklina Blazeski, right, and Dominic Galati maintain they were wrongly detained for six days at the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport. Picture: Supplied

A Sydney couple have been released after being held for six-days in hotel quarantine in Melbourne and have vowed to take legal action against the Victorian state government.

Dominic Galati, 58, and Zaklina Blazeski, 42, maintain they were wrongly detained at the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport in the northwest suburb of Tullamarine.

They were released late afternoon on Thursday, while at least two other families were released on Friday morning, but more than 200 others NSW arrivals are still detained.

“We’re feeling good but I’m still a bit pissed off,” said Mr Galati.

“I’ve told my lawyers to keep going with the case against the government and that’s what they’re doing.”

After landing with what they said was a valid entry permit on New Year’s Day, the couple were told at around 3.30pm on Thursday they would be discharged on the condition they booked a flight first.

Ms Blazeski has a seven-year-old child in Sydney and said she did not have medication for her thyroid condition.

The couple said they were not released because they were granted an exemption and maintain they should have been allowed to return to Sydney instead of being taken into hotel quarantine.

“I’m not angry about us anymore, I‘m angry about how Australia can allow an archaic law to be passed,” Mr Galati said.

Since their detention on January 1, there has been no restriction in NSW preventing the couple from returning and the state was supportive of them leaving quarantine to return to their home in Miller’s Point.

The Victorian government first imposed travel restrictions on travellers from the northern beaches and Greater Sydney on December 18 due to a resurgence in cases of COVID-19.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he wasn’t aware of the details of the Sydney couple’s case.

“I’m not briefed on every case, I don’t think anyone would expect me to be,” he said on Friday.

“But if we can follow up we will, as we have done on literally thousands of occasions over the last year.”

Mr Andrews said he would follow up the case of Moko Ngawhare-Pounamu, who was detained as she tried to collect her kids at the airport on January 1.

Sydney couple Jennifer Papaconstuntinos and Clinton Hamence remain in hotel quarantine, despite having come to Melbourne under very similar circumstances to those of Mr Galati and Ms Blazeski.

As the couple told The Australian on Sunday, they had obtained permits and thought they were visiting Melbourne for 48 hours when they were unexpectedly detained on Friday and refused the option of flying directly home.

Ms Papaconstuntinos’s three sons Josiah, 14, Jaydon, 11, and Jacob, 7, are in Sydney with her mother, who also requires care having suffered an aneurysm.

“There’s absolutely no difference between our case (and Mr Galati’s), except they paid and went to court,” Mr Hamence said on Friday.

There were 253 interstate travellers in hotel quarantine in Victoria on Thursday, as well as 15 people in health and complex care hotels.

Anita Kovac landed in Newcastle on December 30. As soon as she heard the border was snapping shut she booked the first flight she could – which landed on January 2nd.

Despite suffering from an anxiety disorder, Ms Kovac was detained in hotel quarantine at the Park Royal near Melbourne Airport in the northwest suburb of Tullamarine.

Ms Kovac said she attempted to escape twice on her first day of detention and was thwarted by Victoria Police officers who threatened to fine her $20,000.

She later suffered a panic attack inside her hotel room and after fruitless discussions with health authorities called an ambulance, which was denied entry to hotel quarantine.

“I have panic attacks and anxiety and being trapped inside these four walls has been really hard,” she said.

Shadow Police Minister David Southwick said the snap decision to shut the Victorian/NSW border had created chaos and confusion.

“It’s simply unacceptable that vulnerable people are being kept in the dark and treated like prisoners denied fresh air and appropriate medical care,” he said.

So far, 579 exemptions to enter Victoria from NSW have been granted out of more than 4,000 applications.

Victoria recorded zero cases of COVID-19 while NSW saw four locally acquired cases.