More than 11,000 Queenslanders are stranded in NSW or Victoria awaiting border passes or exemptions, due to an extreme undersupply of hotel quarantine rooms available in Queensland.  This failed system has torn families apart and left thousands of residents in limbo, with no advice on how long they will have to wait to return home. 

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has turned a blind eye to this growing crisis, saying that those people went interstate knowing what the rules were, and need to be patient.  

People like Tina, a 27-year-old Brisbane woman who came to NSW at the beginning of September to visit her dying father, who has since passed away.  She applied for a border pass on September 9 and is still waiting for her border pass application to be reviewed.

Families like Karrina, 43, and her three children aged 12, 13 and 18 months, who became stuck in NSW on a family holiday back in June.  They are still paying rent for their home back in Bundaberg, and are currently living in a tent as this is all they can afford.

Or Katrina, who is 28 weeks pregnant and stuck in Sydney, separated from her partner in Brisbane and growing increasingly anxious about the prospect of giving birth away from her support system.

Victoria has its borders to NSW closed, but is allowing fully vaccinated returning residents to self-isolate at home, instead of in hotel quarantine.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that Australia is set to restart international travel in just one month.  Meanwhile, Queenslanders can’t even get home.

The Queensland Premier needs to take action and make changes to the failed hotel quarantine system, following in Victoria’s footsteps and allowing fully vaccinated returning Queensland residents to quarantine at home.  The Premier also needs to increase the number of hotel quarantine rooms available in the state, to allow the growing number of Queenslanders stranded interstate to come home.

The rest of Australia and the world is moving ahead, and Queensland needs to catch up.