AFTER being stuck in Moulamein for several weeks, Heathcote resident David Rourke could get the reprieve he needs to return home.
As restrictions ease in regional Victoria, Premier Daniel Andrews said at the weekend the government was working on getting Victorians stuck on the border home.
Mr Rourke and his two dogs have been staying in his caravan at Moulamein Lakeside Caravan Park.
During his time there, he has had several applications for compassionate permits knocked back and multiple COVID-19 tests.
Mr Rourke said he hoped he was in a strong position to return home.
“I’m in with a good chance, as I’ve been here for six weeks, I’m fully vaccinated and I’ve been in an isolated area,” he told The Guardian.
“Everybody needs to be home – you’ve got a right to be home.”
Mr Rourke, 70, travelled to Grassy Head, near Coffs Harbour, to visit a friend, leaving Scots Head on the NSW mid-north coast of NSW on July 20.
He aimed to return to Heathcote for his second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, booked for August 3.
But the Victorian border had closed on July 11, leaving Mr Rourke only 13 hours to return to Victoria.
Mr Rourke said he had been happy to quarantine at home if he had been allowed back to his home state.
“I live on my own and I was going to be quarantining at home and my partner was going to drop food off for me,” he said.
“That was planned all along. I bought paint, I was going to paint at home.
“I have protected myself and the community by getting vaccinated (in NSW).”
Mr Rourke said the Victorian Government’s refusal to allow residents to return while COVID-19 spread across NSW was bureaucratic.
“They’ve forgotten about us,” he said.
“We are the public, we are people and it’s our home. We’ve lived there our whole damn lives.
“If I wasn’t stuck in here in Moulamein, I’d be as happy as Larry to be in Moulamein.”
He said the delays had “consumed my life since I left Grassy Head”.
As part of National Cabinet’s work, states including Victoria have agreed with the Commonwealth to start trials of home-based quarantine.
The first of these pilots will support about 200 Victorian residents who have been stuck on the NSW side of the border to return home.
Mr Andrews said Victorians who had stayed in a NSW border area for at least the 14 days from August 25 to September 8 could apply for a new permit exemption category.
Applications for exemptions opened at noon on September 10 and will close at 6pm on Friday.
Victorians applying for this exemption will need to provide proof of their primary residence in Victoria, evidence of a negative COVID-19 test result 48 hours before their arrival in Victoria and evidence of having at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Applicants will also be required to provide evidence they have stayed in the border region and maintained minimal social contact while in NSW.
Victorians will be able to apply for the repatriation exemption at the Service Victoria website, www.service.vic.gov.au, and applications will be assessed within 72 hours.
Successful applicants will be required to drive directly to their home in Victoria, stopping only for a further test, and then isolate at home for 14 days.
Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said he was “gobsmacked” the Premier had made vaccination a condition for Victorians to return.
“With hundreds, possibly thousands, of Victorian citizens stranded in southern NSW for weeks because Daniel Andrews said so, a blanket order that ignored double vaccinations; ignored repeated negative tests; ignored pleas for the unwell to access help; in fact, ignored everyone and everything,” Mr Walsh said.
