Sick, stuck, and no way to get home
Life in danger as border stays shut
A MAGNETIC Island resident with “life-threatening cancer” has been locked out of Queensland for three months and refused an exemption for crucial surgery.
Nelly Bay’s Michael O’keefe has been locked down on the Central Coast of NSW since late May after travelling there to be with his dying mother.
The 69-year-old has a range of skin cancers, which he said his surgeon described as “lifethreatening”.
He said he had to postpone his surgery in May to be by his mother’s side.
“After mum’s funeral, my wife and I were approved to return home in June,” Mr O’keefe said.
“But our permits were cancelled in June after the Queensland government declared the Central Coast a Covid hotspot, even though there were no Covid cases here.
“We have now been stuck here for over three months now.”
Mr O’keefe and his wife Jill are stranded in the suburb of Saratoga, south of Gosford.
“We don’t know anyone down here – we’re pretty much on our own,” he said.
“There’s massive doctor shortages. Many have now closed their books to new patients – and the hospital and the chemist are both recent Covid exposure sites.
“I waited a month to get a
biopsy on a spot that is now the size of a 10c piece and smells like rotting flesh.
“They couldn’t fit me in for surgery for another eight weeks after that. That’s just for that one spot and doesn’t include the other ones.”
Mr O’keefe said he’d had a long history of malignant melanoma and had endured eight surgeries in the past 10 years.
He said he was booked in to see his Townsville surgeon on September 20.
Mr O’keefe said he and his wife were fully vaccinated and there were still no Covid cases in the area where he was stranded.
“We have an extremely Covid-safe plan for return but none of this seems to count for much,” he said.
Mr O’keefe said it was galling that the Queensland government had allowed NRL players and their families into the state while shutting out its own residents.
“It’s quite funny to see that Annastacia Palaszczuk is helping the boys and the WAGS get in,” he said. “She said she made a mistake. Bit of an understatement, really.
“Greg Hunt was much closer to the mark when he said her exemption policy, that lets footballers get in when cancer patients and kids can’t, was a ‘profound moral failure’.”
Queensland Health said in a statement it was unable to provide details of Mr O’keefe’s individual situation.
“We know border restrictions are inconvenient and can cause disruption to people’s lives and livelihoods. We must balance these factors against the serious health risk to more than five million Queenslanders,” a spokeswoman said.
“The aim of the strict border is to limit the number of people entering Queensland who could potentially import Covid-19 into our state, which we know could be catastrophic, leading to more lockdowns and even tighter controls.
“The decision to temporarily pause hotel quarantine for interstate travellers was implemented because, at the time, we were over capacity and our system was feeling the pressure. The short reprieve has allowed us the time to pivot, find solutions, and ultimately move forward at a more sustainable pace.
“We have the details of those due to return home or relocate to Queensland during the pause and will contact those able to be progressed.”