Molly Richter was all set for her new life with her fiance in Western Australia.
Key points:
- WA was due to allow travellers in after reopening on February 5
- The Premier says Omicron means it will be delayed indefinitely
- People about to move to WA say they have been left stranded
Now, an 11th-hour decision by Western Australia to keep its border closed has left her stranded in Sydney with just a suitcase and no home.
The decision has created chaos for tens of thousands of people who were expected to arrive in WA from February 5 onwards.
American woman Ms Richter, 43, fell in love with her fiance Paul Woolerton six years ago.
They have sustained a relationship across international borders, visiting each other and staying in touch constantly online.
In 2017, Mr Woolerton proposed to her on Rockingham Beach in Perth’s south, and she was booked to leave for Australia back in July 2020.
A year and a half later, she has only now been able to get a flight into Australia, and she could only go via Sydney. An earlier direct flight to Perth was cancelled back in October.
Australia has only recently opened its international borders, but Mr Woolerton’s home state of WA stayed resolutely closed to the rest of the country and world.
Premier Mark McGowan had set an opening date of February 5, but last night he announced that had been suspended indefinitely.
“Everything I own is either in my house with my partner in Perth, or in this room and my suitcases with me, and on February 5 by booking here at this rental unit ends.
“Where am I supposed to go? I don’t know anybody in Sydney.”
Plea for government to show leniency
Ms Woolerton, who flew to Sydney from her home state of Colorado, said she had tried to obtain an exemption with a G2G pass, but the app the WA government uses to approve entry to the state for essential workers or on compassionate grounds had not been updated.
Mr McGowan said last night there would be exemptions for “returning West Australians with strong recent connections or direct legitimate family connections in WA”.
While Ms Richter’s visa into Australia has been approved, she does not know if the WA government will recognise it as confirmation of the legitimacy of her relationship with her fiance.
She is pleading with the government to show leniency.
“I followed the instructions, I waited until the promised date and I based everything on the promise,” she said.
“My partner is working in Perth and providing the income for the one house we have there, and it’s not sustainable for us financially or mentally for me to be stuck in Sydney.
“I have nothing and no-one in Sydney.”
Family sells house to come home
Pam Nicholas and her husband had been planning on moving from Seaford in Victoria to WA.
She moved east five years ago to live with one of her daughters, but before that had spent 30 years in Western Australia.
“We’ve been wanting to go back to WA for a while, and when we heard that the border was reopening we pushed forward with the sale of our house. We’ve sold our house, we bought a house unseen in Mandurah,” she told ABC News Breakfast.
“I’m in a room full of boxes and bubble wrap.
“We’re ready to go, the cat’s been sorted out, the flight and her cattery and injections all done.”
Ms Nicholas said she and her husband had both received booster doses and had been as cautious as possible.
But she said it was unclear at this stage whether they would be covered by the new expanded exemptions.
“We don’t know … it’s this uncertainty,” she said.
“I think Mark McGowan’s done a fabulous job in WA protecting people, but it’s Omicron.”
Legal action still on cards: Flight Centre
Flight Centre chief executive Graham Turner told ABC Perth the company had put off legal action against the WA government when it announced the February 5 opening date.
Now they are reconsidering.
“We’re certainly talking to our constitutional legal team in Melbourne,” Mr Turner said.
“We put it off because the Premier told us categorically, at least I thought it was categorically, that the border would open on February 5.
“It is disappointing, and we will reconsider, but we will probably wait until he announces a new date.”
Medically vulnerable in WA voice relief
While travellers have been left frustrated, others have expressed support for the border decision.
Sarah Davies has Ehlers Danlos syndrome, a genetic disorder of the connective tissues.
They are more medically vulnerable to COVID-19 and Mx Davies said they would have to isolate indefinitely once the borders open.
Mx Davies said people in the disabled and medically vulnerable community had been very nervous as the border opening would have a large impact.
“It would mean we would have to go into self-imposed lockdown for months and months and face losing our family members and some of us face dying,” they said.
Mx Davies did not think the borders should stay closed indefinitely.
“I’m very relieved that we’re able to put some extra time and money into building up our hospitals, and getting everyone onto that third booster dose, so we’re reducing the pool of people that COVID can move among,” they said.
“If we look at what’s happening over east, people are dying … I don’t think it’s a sacrifice we need to make.
“I really think our government needs to value all of us, not just the people who can afford to go buy the medicines, the RAT tests, and that’s what I see Mark McGowan doing — keeping a promise to keep us safe.”
She said she trusted the Premier to ensure families were not separated because access via compassionate grounds had been expanded.
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