Coronavirus Australia: PM Scott Morrison calls for national appeals process border exemption rejections

PM demands uniform appeals process for border exemptions, saying border issues not addressed ‘as well as we’d hoped’.

Scott Morrison says some states have a proper appeal mechanism when people have their requests for border exemptions rejected, but there needs to be a consistent process across the country. Picture: Sean Davey

Scott Morrison is demanding a fairer, more transparent and uniform appeals process for Australians whose requests to cross state borders are rejected, as he concedes national cabinet has not addressed border issues “as well as we’d hoped”.

The Prime Minister will push state premiers to adopt consistent rules on appeals amid growing frustration from Coalition MPs, business leaders, border communities and farmers that border exemptions are being rejected with no justification.

“National cabinet has achieved many great things over these last six months and I can understand that Australians are frustrated that the border issues, through that process, are not being addressed as well as we‘d hoped,” Mr Morrison said.

“That has not been through any lack of effort, I can assure you, on the federal government‘s part, but it does demonstrate that the constitutional powers that sit around internal borders are vague when it comes to dealing with specific circumstances.

‘It affects lives’

“I will continue to work to ensure we have a transparent and fair process, that there are appropriate appeal rights in place for people who are affected by these decisions. It does affect their lives … It is important that we continue to remove barriers where they’re not necessary and, where there are barriers, we have the most sensible, practical and time-limited arrangements and people know when they can come off so they can get on with their lives.”

Police check cars at the Queensland border with NSW. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Steve Holland

In Queensland, there were 10,500 requests for exemptions to bypass the state’s two-week quarantine requirements for some interstate travellers between 18 June and 7 August.

According to the state’s health department, less than 40 of those requests met the criteria for “exceptional circumstance to quarantine outside of government-nominated accommodation”.

Nurse application rejected

Nurse practitioner Di Thornton, who runs the Mallee Border Health Centre that cares for more than 1500 patients in Pinnaroo, in South Australia, and Murrayville and Underbool in Victoria, said she had no option to appeal when SA Health rejected her application to continue crossing the border for work during the hard border closure.

“I did actually write back to SA Health but they didn’t respond and I’m not alone there. Most people that did write back if they were knocked back didn’t get a response either. The silence was deafening,” she said.

Nurse practitioner Di Thornton says an appeals process would have helped her and many of her patients after her request to the SA government to travel across the Victorian-SA border for work was rejected. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

“I know of one gentleman in Murrayville who’s got quite severe lung disease. He has not approached us or anybody else (for care). His family are keen to do something but he said ‘no I don’t want to make a fuss’ because he’s been rejected for going down to Adelaide. He needs tertiary care. He needs to have some decisions made around where they’re going to go with him next. That’s just not good enough.”

The federal government’s call for a national appeals mechanism for rejected border passes comes as Australia’s hospitality industry urges Victorian premier Daniel Andrews to start consulting on a new COVID-19 recovery road map for the state.

“It is of dire and critical importance that the Andrews government puts out the fire of uncertainty with a new road map,” Restaurant and Catering Australia chief executive Wes Lambert said.

Hospitality industry appeal

“We know how the COVID crisis starts. What we need to know from the Andrews government is how it finishes. You need to lead and lead the hospitality industry and lead the economy out of the crisis.”

Tourism leaders wrote to premiers and chief ministers on Thursday warning the opportunity to reach a new market of domestic travellers created by the ban on overseas travel had been dashed by ongoing changes to state border restrictions.

“For the tourism industry, this should have been our moment – a chance for Aussie travellers to discover the many wonders of our own remarkable country,” Baillie Lodges chief operating officer Craig Bradbery said. “But as state borders like Queensland and the Northern Territory now look to remain closed, tourism businesses can’t survive for an extended period solely on the support from intrastate travellers.”