The state government needs to pull its finger out and start letting people into the state in earnest

People are dying and their loved ones are left suffering because the government refuses to put some basic processes in place to allow a slow trickle of visitors into the state, writes Mercury journalist Navarone Farrell.

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The state government needs to pull its finger out.

People are dying and their loved ones are left suffering because it refuses to step up and put some basic processes in place to allow a slow trickle of visitors into the state.

My grandmother is one of the people that are dying.

She’s 77, she’s dying of cancer. She’s moving down to Tasmania to be cared for by family.

In July she moved out of her home in the hope borders would open early August, and she would be able to quarantine in Tasmania – where she owns property.

But her G2G pass was denied.

And denied again, and again – to the point where they’ve stopped bothering.

She’s staying with friends in Queensland, having shifted from spare room to spare room, just waiting, in what are some of her final days, to come down to Tasmania and be comfortable.

No one wants that for their family or loved ones.

Louise Paine, who missed her father’s funeral based on an arbitrary bureaucratic decision that is no longer benefiting anyone, is in a far worse position than me.

She said her mental health was “in the gutter”.

She was beside herself with grief, watching a father, who she had only reformed a bond with over the past 10 years, get buried at Cornelian Bay via a livestream.

We can only hope the state government sees cases like Ms Paine’s, and sees how people are suffering, and makes the bold call to open back up, rather than languish in conservative decisions which are no longer supported by Tasmanians.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

Follow @navaronefarrell