NEWS COMMENTARY
TWO WEEKS AGO, QUEENSLAND’S CHIEF HEALTH OFFICER DR. JEANETTE YOUNG STUNNED AUSTRALIANS BY ADMITTING THAT ‘ECONOMIC REASONS’ LAY BEHIND HER RECENT APPROVAL OF A NUMBER OF HIGH-PROFILE BORDER ENTRY EXEMPTIONS.
Approvals, green lighted entry to Queensland for approximately 400 Australian Football League (AFL) executives, players and family members, Tom Hanks and his entourage, a movie production company, as well as home-grown talent Danni Minogue. At a September 10 press conference, Dr. Young stated,
“I have given class exemptions to people in the sporting industry for a whole range of codes because it is important that we start that work, but they all go into quarantine … we need every single dollar in our state. I have given exemptions from people in entertainment and film because that is bringing a lot of money into this state.”
The Palaszczuk state government and Dr. Young’s reasoning is being scrutinised due to their preferential handling of prominent individual’s exemption requests. Specifically, when a comparison is made between the VIP approvals and a growing number of rejected requests from normal Queenslander’s – Australians who have asked to visit dying relatives, or to attend a funeral service within the mandated 14-day quarantine period.
The list below shows five of the Queenslander’s whose exemption requests were rejected initially by Dr. Young.
The list below shows five of the Queenslander’s whose exemption requests were rejected initially by Dr. Young.
#1: Sarah Caisip
With her father, Bernard Prendergast, dying in a Brisbane Hospital, Sarah Caisip, 26, was forced to wait 20 days before her exemption request was approved. Mr Prendergast died two days before Sarah entered Queensland and hotel quarantine in Brisbane. She was informed that she could not attend her father’s funeral with her mother and 11 year old sister as it was being held within her dictated quarantine period. Instead, a private viewing of her father’s body was organised at the expense of the state. Barnaby Joyce, a National Party MP on hearing of this travesty stated,
“YOU HAVE THE AFL IN THERE AT FIRST CLASS, TOM HANKS IN THERE, HIS OFFSIDERS IN THERE, BUT WE CAN’T GET A PERSON ACROSS TO SEE THEIR DAD BURIED … THAT IS WHY PEOPLE ARE UPSET … PERSONALLY, I THINK THE WHOLE THING IS A SHAM. PEOPLE IN REGIONAL SEATS OF QUEENSLAND ARE SEEING IT AS A SHAM.”
Opposition leader Deb Frecklington highlighted the Palaszczuk state governments inconsistency over border security, by saying,
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“LABOR ARE TRYING TO DISTRACT FROM THE UNFAIR DOUBLE-STANDARDS THAT QUEENSLANDERS KEEP SEEING ON EXEMPTIONS … WE CAN’T HAVE ONE RULE FOR AFL STARS AND CELEBRITIES AND ANOTHER RULE FOR ORDINARY QUEENSLANDERS WHOSE FAMILIES ARE BEING TORN APART.”
Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister when asked to comment on the lack of compassion shown by the Palaszczuk state government’s Chief Health Officer, stated,
“IT’S HARD TO DRAW ANY OTHER CONCLUSION … IT’S JUST ONE DAY I HAD HOPED THAT SOMETHING DIFFERENT COULD BE DONE … THERE’S BEEN SOME SHOCKING DAYS DURING THE COURSE OF THIS PANDEMIC, AND TODAY JUST HURT. AT LEAST, I’M GLAD SHE GOT TO SAY ONE LAST FAREWELL TO HER FATHER, BERNARD, I’M PLEASED SHE WAS ABLE TO DO THAT … I WISH SHE WAS ABLE TO GIVE HER MUM AND HER SISTER A HUG.”
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#2: mark evans
Mark Keans, 39, was diagnosed with inoperable terminal cancer in July. Mark’s four Sydney-based children submitted exemption requests to Queensland Health to ensure that they could see their father one last time. Dr. Young rejected all but one of the children’s requests. This decision was overturned after the public was made aware of the situation by the media. Bruce Langborne, Mr. Keans’ father stated,
“WELL, BASICALLY, WHAT [WE WERE TOLD BY QLD HEALTH], ONE, WE HAD TOO MANY PEOPLE TRYING TO COME UP. TWO, WE WEREN’T ALLOWED TO DRIVE, WE HAD TO FLY IN AND THEN WE PROBABLY WOULDN’T GET OUT OF THE AIRPORT ANYWAY, THEY’D SEND US BACK. THREE, BY US WANTING TO COME AND SEE MARK, WE’RE BEING SELFISH AND NOT TAKING ANY THOUGHT AS TO THE WELFARE OF THE OTHER CANCER PATIENTS. WE COULD NOT PICK ONE [CHILD] OVER ANY OF THE OTHERS. IT’S IMPOSSIBLE. EVERY ONE OF THEM DESERVES IT. TO ME, I THINK IT’S RIDICULOUS.”
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Dr. Young eventually agreed to all four of the children entering Queensland as long as they quarantined themselves, at their own expense, within a designated Brisbane hotel. Appalled by Queensland Health’s decision making process, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard stated,
“I CAN ONLY EXPRESS MY SUPREME ANGER AT THE QUEENSLAND PREMIER’S DECISION, WHICH, IN MY VIEW, IS NOTHING MORE THAN BASE LOOPY POLITICS.”
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#3: kimberley brown
In early August, Premier Palaszczuk declared that Queensland hospitals were
“FOR OUR [QUEENSLAND] PEOPLE.”
On August 12, Kimberley Brown of Ballina, New South Wales developed twin to twin transfusion syndrome and required urgent surgery to correct the situation. Doctor’s from the Mater Hospital in South Brisbane informed the future mother of the border exemption requirement and how long it might take to receive an approval from Queensland Health. Due to this she chose instead to fly 750km to Sydney, sadly losing a twin due to the extended journey.
#4: jayne brown
Having had two brain tumours removed by renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Charlie Teo in Sydney, Sunshine Coast Grandmother, Jayne Brown, 60, was forced to spend her 14 day quarantine in a tiny Brisbane hotel room after two self-isolation requests were rejected by Dr. Young.
#5: mark talbot
Mark Talbot travelled back from the US to visit his dying mother Coral, 83, in Queensland. Denied a travel exemption, Mark is now quarantined for two weeks unable to visit his mother who is suffering from organ failure in Hervey Bay. The decision by Dr. Young is currently under investigation by both the Queensland Ombudsman and the Human Rights Commission.
“I THINK THE REAL ISSUE HERE IS I LIVE IN SAN DIEGO, I’M A US AND AUSTRALIAN CITIZEN, AND I FEEL THAT THEY’RE JUST NOT LETTING ME GET THROUGH THE SYSTEM AS ANYONE ELSE WOULD NORMALLY BECAUSE OF THAT FACT.”
SO, WHO DID DR. YOUNG CHAMPION AND
GIVE THE GREEN LIGHT FROM A BORDER ENTRY PERSPECTIVE?
GIVE THE GREEN LIGHT FROM A BORDER ENTRY PERSPECTIVE?
#1: TOM HANKS
Dr. Young personally wrote to Mike Outram, the Australian Border Force Commissioner, requesting permission for Tom Hanks to enter Queensland on June 30, in the letter she wrote,
“I UNDERSTAND THAT IN ORDER FOR YOU TO CONSIDER AN EXEMPTION TO ALLOW THESE PERSONS TO ENTER AUSTRALIA YOU REQUIRE CONFIRMATION THAT QUEENSLAND SUPPORTS THEIR ENTRY INTO OUR STATE TO RESUME PRODUCTION … I CONFIRM THAT QUEENSLAND BOTH SUPPORTS AND IS WILLING TO ACCOMMODATE THE CAST AND CREW IN QUEENSLAND.”
The Hollywood star who contracted Covid-19 earlier this year, returned to Australia and a 14 day quarantine Tuesday evening to complete the filming of the Baz Luhrmann Elvis Presley biopic on the Gold Coast. An entourage including cast, crew and an additional 11 family members accompanied Tom Hanks into his mandatory quarantine at a luxury resort in Broadbeach, and not one of the designated quarantine hotels normal Australians have been forced to endure. Peter Dutton, Home Affairs Minister was quoted on Friday stating,
“IF YOU ARE TOM HANKS FROM CALIFORNIA, YOU ARE OKAY. IF YOU ARE TOM HANKS FROM CHERMSIDE OR CASTLE HILL, SORRY, YOU ARE NOT COMING IN.”
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Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington objected to the movie star not going into a designated quarantine hotel, and stated,
“THE DOUBLE STANDARDS ARE SHOCKING – IT SHOULDN’T BE ONE RULE FOR VIPS AND CELEBRITIES AND ANOTHER RULE FOR EVERYONE ELSE. EVERYDAY AUSTRALIANS DON’T GET TO PICK AND CHOOSE WHERE THEY QUARANTINE, AND NEITHER SHOULD CELEBRITIES.”
Even Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison felt the need to intervene, and stated to Sky News that,
“WELL I THINK THAT’S WHY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SO FRUSTRATED TODAY, WHEN THEY SEE DOUBLE STANDARDS … QUEENSLANDERS ARE FAIR-MINDED PEOPLE. I KNOW, I’M SURE THE VAST MAJORITY OF QUEENSLANDERS WOULD SUPPORT THE BORDER BEING IN PLACE. THAT’S WHY IT’S NOT ABOUT THAT, IT’S ABOUT – YOU KNOW, QUEENSLANDERS ARE VERY FAIR-MINDED PEOPLE TOO, AND I THINK THIS IS WHAT WOULD OFFEND THEM, THE DOUBLE STANDARDS THAT ARE THERE. I DIDN’T WANT TO SEE THIS BECOME A PUBLIC ISSUE TODAY, BECAUSE LARGELY FOR SARAH AND ISABELLE AND MERNA’S CASE. THEY’RE TRYING TO DEAL WITH THE LOSS OF THEIR HUSBAND AND THEIR FATHER TODAY, AND ALL OF THIS WAS HAPPENING AROUND THAT. AND I’M SAD THAT THAT HAS BEEN THE CASE.”
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#2: AFL
Premier Palaszczuk announced in late July that Queensland would play host to the AFL Grand Final in October, promising this single event would place approximately $17 million into empty Queensland treasury coffers. 400 executives, staff and their families were given border exemptions to enter Queensland, and to take up residence at a luxury resort that would be the AFL’s quarantine hub. Recent photographic evidence has shown that social distancing rules are being ignored by the inhabitants of the AFL hub, generating more cries from the public of preferential treatment for VIP’s. This decision made many Queenslander’s angry – 400 exemption requests for the AFL handed out like candy at a birthday party, but at the same time Mark Keans’ four young children were being told that only one of them could visit their dying dad.
#3: DANNI MINOGUE
Returning Australian reality television program host Dannii Minogue received an exemption from Dr. Young to skip her two week quarantine in a designated hotel, and instead spend this time at a luxury Gold Coast house. What a pity Dr. Young didn’t show the same compassion for Sunshine Coast grandmother Jayne Brown who was in recovery from brain surgery and forced to stay in a designated Brisbane hotel following her surgery in Sydney.
In the latest incarnation of the infamous Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association, TDS is not listed, however it does state that,
“a mental disorder is a syndrome characterised by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behaviour … mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress in social, occupational, or other important activities.”
PERHAPS PRESIDENT TRUMP ISN’T THE ONLY PERSON WHO REQUIRES A MENTAL ASSESSMENT?
Main Photo: C Drying on Unsplash, 2020
Main Photo: C Drying on Unsplash, 2020