Scott Morrison will write to NSW, SA, VIC and QLD asking premiers to help border communities

Scott Morrison to ask premiers to urgently resolve border restrictions as two-year-old Mabel Dyer waits for exemption to receive medical care.

Jonathan Dyer and his two-year-old daughter Mabel. Picture: Paul Jeffers

Scott Morrison will ask the premiers of NSW, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland to ­urgently resolve border restrictions so Australians can move freely across state boundaries to access healthcare and work.

The Australian understands the Prime Minister will write to the state leaders this week, with an emphasis on vital medical treatments and essential workers such as farmers, as he also raises the case of two-year-old Mabel Dyer with South Australian Premier Steven Marshall.

Mabel, who has complex hip dysplasia and has been in some sort of brace for most of her life, lives in the Victorian town of Kaniva, 20km east of the South Australian border, and needs to see her specialist in Adelaide later this month to determine if the bracing has worked or surgery is required.

Her parents, Tiarnee and Jonathan Dyer, have been told their specialist at Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s hospital cannot see Mabel due to COVID-19 and that they will need to find another doctor in the coronavirus hotspot of Melbourne, 414km away.

Mr Morrison intervened in Mabel’s case on Friday after learning of her story through The Weekend Australian.

While the Dyers’ local federal member Anne Webster, a ­Nationals MP, contacted them over the weekend, they have not received an exemption to South Australia’s new border restrictions that will from Friday only allow Victorians deemed to be ­essential travellers to enter the state.

“Myself and all the other people in our area are still unsure where to go next or what’s happening,” Mr Dyer said on Sunday.

“This is no just about us ­because we’ve got a cute kid who landed on the front page of the paper. This needs to be resolved for our community, for our neighbour who needs chemo treatment, for a guy who works on another farm up the road from me who can’t see his five-year-old son because co-parenting isn’t considered an essential reason to travel.”

A Marshall government spokeswoman said they recognised restrictions across the country were affecting communities, families and businesses but stood by the tougher border closure.

“The state government’s No 1 focus is on keeping the people of South Australia safe and strong, and our border restrictions are a major part of that,” she said.

“Exemptions are considered on a case-by-case basis and understand that SA Health has been in contact with the Dyer family.”

The last contact the Dyers had from SA Health was on August 6, when the exemptions team asked for a medical letter from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital outlining the urgency of Mabel’s upcoming appointment and medical treatment.

“If the hospital won’t agree to see us then we can’t apply,” Mr Dyer said.

“Who is telling doctors and staff not to see out-of-state ­patients?”