Premier pleads for help

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is pushing his Tasmanian counterpart Peter Gutwein to put border policies aside and allow a distraught Sydney woman to reunite with her dying mother.

Mr Perrottet and Health Minister Brad Hazzard are working with Tasmanian authorities after Daily Telegraph journalist Mercedes Maguire revealed her anguished plight at being denied entry into Tasmania to see her mum, Teresa Florez.

“While border restrictions are a matter for individual states this is surely a case where an exemption could be considered on compassionate grounds,” Mr Perrottet said.

“I have contacted the Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein to see if the Tasmanian government could have a further look at this case.”

Mr Perrottet also called Ms Maguire saying he was “praying” for her family and will do what he can to help them.

Mr Hazzard said he hoped the Tasmanian government would act compassionately.

“I’m hopeful the Tasmania government will exercise a judgment based on kindness and caring, particularly knowing that each of these NSW residents are double-vaxxed and would have a PCR test before they went to Tasmania,” he said.

Ms Maguire and her family are being forced to navigate a bureaucratic maze as their mum lies dying in their family home in Tasmania with as little as 48 hours left to live.

Ms Maguire has been barred from staying in their family home where her mum Teresa Florez is in palliative care and instead forced to apply for hotel quarantine at her own cost of $3800 for two weeks or find alternative accommodation like an Airbnb.

In a phone call from a representative of Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff’s office, Ms Maguire was told she would then be given a pass from the Tasmanian government to visit her mum. But the representative did not explain how frequently she could visit or for how long at a time.

The excessive measures came despite NSW recording just 294 new infections on Monday, while second-dose vaccination rates for over-16s reached 85 per cent.

Ms Maguire was asked to resubmit her application, which was originally denied, with new documentation including a letter from the doctor. The phone call from Mr Rockliff‘s office came after Mr Hazzard reached out to Tasmanian authorities pushing Ms Maguire’s heartbreaking case.

“My mum is literally dying, she potentially has only 48 hours to live and I’m in Sydney trying to get a new letter from the doctor. I’m wasting my time,” Ms Maguire said.

“I think this is a process established to make me fail.”