Separated families ‘soul-destroying’
IN a heart-wrenching, desperate action, dozens of parents from rural NSW are tearfully sharing stories of anxiety and heartache about being separated from their children at Queensland boarding schools for months, begging Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to show compassion to relax border restrictions to COVID-free towns.
They say the separation and isolation of regional border towns will spring a mental health crisis, saying it has been “worse than the souldestroying drought”.
It comes as the
Federal
Government lashes out at the “confusion and cruelty” of arbitrary border restrictions, piling on pressure for a national hotspot definition.
The death on an unborn baby girl from Ballina on Friday has created a flashpoint, with an angry Prime Minister Scott Morrison urging premiers to get behind national definition.
But a defiant Premier has backed her hardline border closures, claiming without them the state would be in the same situation as Victoria.
Many families from northern NSW, outside the border bubble, have penned open letters for Ms Palaszczuk pleading with her to think of a solution for them so they can see their kids.
While families within the border zone have been granted exemptions to travel for school activity, those on the wrong side of the bubble face 14 days in quarantine or the uncertainty of exemption applications.
A spokesman for the Premier said the Chief Health Officer was providing exemptions for some boarding school families and was continuing to meet with family representatives.
“For example, exemptions were recently granted to children travelling from Moree (outside the bubble) from needing to quarantine,” he said.
Warialda mother Wendy Mayne, whose three children are in Gold Coast boarding schools, said missing her kids had been worse than suffering through “shattering” drought.
“As a mother it’s terrible, it’s gut-wrenching and I think the mental health of the children would be a big issue and it’s something maybe they have overlooked,” she said. “It will be a problem for these children if they can’t go home.”
Amanda Barwick, who lives in the same town, is one of the lead motivators in getting families to share their stories.
“Where I live is probably the safest place on the planet. We go days I don’t see anyone but my husband and kids. In our local area there have been no cases of COVID,” she said.