An emotional son has recounted his visiting mother’s “diabolical” situation since arriving in Australia, with authorities attempting to deport her.
Michael’s mum Claire, 64, arrived in Perth from the UK on Monday evening, with the family looking forward to being reunited after three years.
They waited for her at the airport, but she never appeared.
“We all stood on the other side. My daughter who is three-years-old had a sign waiting for her saying ‘Can’t wait to see you, grandma’,” Michael told 6PR on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, seven hours later, somebody finally spoke to us to say they’ve actually declined her entry into Australia and she’s now going to be deported.
“She was interrogated three times on the record, they took her fingerprint, and they took her possessions away from her.”
Michael said his mother had done everything she needed to do before arriving, including getting her visa granted, a digital pass enabling travellers to apply for entry into WA and putting in a vaccine exemption.
“She did everything she needed to do, she’s had this trip planned for a long time,” he said.
“All the boxes were ticked.”
His mother got the vaccine exemption because she has temporal arteritis, a condition that causes the arteries in her head to become inflamed.
The medication she takes to treat it carries the risk of strokes, aneurysms and heart attacks.
“She should not be getting on that flight. She should not be in that (hotel) room,” Michael said.
“She did everything she should have done, she followed all the government guidelines.
“This is an absolutely disgusting situation that’s happening right now.”
The problem is that after authorities granted Claire’s visa back in November, the exemption rules were tightened and conditions changed.
Michael has been lobbying the government, Australian Border Force (ABF) MPs and police to try to find a resolution, but has been met with continual issues.
The ABF said on Txjmtzywuesday they were not aware of Claire’s condition, despite interrogating her and seeing her exemption documents the night before.
“They’re saying, ‘As far as we knew, the reason she wanted to enter in on an exemption was because she had a cat allergy’,” Michael said.
“This is an absolute shambles, they interrogated her for over seven hours on three separate occasions, they had all of her medical exemptions in front of her.
“It sounds like there’s a huge cover-up going on here.”
Michael said it was the fault of authorities for allowing her on the plane in the first place after the exemption conditions had changed.
He holds genuine fears for his mother’s health and just wants to be able to see her.
“It’s not right, it should not be happening,” Michael said.
“We’re finally getting to see her after three years and they’ve done this, it’s diabolical.”
He’s calling for “one person with a little ounce of compassion” to allow her to stay in the country and complete her seven days of quarantine.
