Residents returning to Western Australia’s north amid an easing of border restrictions have expressed confusion and frustration over recent rule changes and the provision of G2G passes.
Key points:
- Outback residents are returning to WA via the Kununurra checkpoint after being stranded interstate
- Returned travellers have expressed frustration and confusion over border rules
- Flight cancellations have forced residents to fork out large sums to freight their cars across the border
On the weekend, East Kimberley residents started returning home through the Kununurra road border checkpoint for the first time since early January.
Potentially hundreds of people from the outback region travelled interstate during the holiday period to visit loved ones, assuming they would freely return from February 5, until WA’s reopening was delayed indefinitely.
Stranded East Kimberley residents then looked to return from February 5, under partially eased restrictions, but were shocked to find out they would have to quarantine 3,000 kilometres away in Perth.
Last week a wave of backlash saw the government impose a new rule, allowing approved returning residents, living within 200 km of the Kununurra border, to quarantine at home.
‘Kick in the guts really’
But the question of getting home became further complicated when Airnorth cancelled flights from Darwin to the Kimberley during February, saying it would only resume services when the WA government allowed.
That forced potentially dozens of people, including Debra Hunter and Bianca Brown, to pay more than $500 to freight their cars from their home town of Kununurra to Darwin so they could cross the road border.
Ms Brown vented her frustration to the ABC at the Kununurra checkpoint on Saturday.
When the ABC spoke to Ms Hunter on Saturday she had just re-applied for her G2G, after receiving no clarity about why her initial application, lodged earlier in the week, had not been approved.
“I’ve tried several times to contact the people approving the applications and the only thing I’ve gotten back yesterday was an email saying they’ve got a vast amount of applications and they understood it was frustrating,” she said.
If her G2G isn’t approved Ms Hunter still plans to drive to the border on Monday and make her case to police at the checkpoint.
The ABC has spoken to one approved traveller, who said they had been given permission at the Kununurra road border to drive just over 1,000km to quarantine at home in Broome, seemingly in breach of current protocols.
As of Sunday ,the WA government’s interstate travel page had still not been updated to reflect the 200km rule change applying to East Kimberley residents.
WA’s Department of Premier and Cabinet and Police have been contacted for comment.
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