Victorian families plea for exemptions to bring their teenage boarding students home
/The parents of a group of Victorian high school boarding students stranded in New South Wales are appealing to the state government for an exemption to allow their children to quarantine at home.
Key points:
- Ten Victorian boarding school students are stuck in NSW due to COVID restrictions
- They have been told they need to complete hotel quarantine before returning to their homes
- Parents are calling for an exemption to bring their teenagers home to quarantine on farm
The Yanco Agricultural High School near Leeton shut down when NSW went into a statewide COVID lockdown earlier this month.
The 10 Victorian students have found temporary places to stay on rural properties with family and friends at Exeter, Yass and West Wyalong.
The group has been told if they want to return to Victoria they need to go into hotel quarantine in Melbourne.
Their parents have made urgent pleas for exemptions to bring their children home to complete their quarantine at home.
Amanda Garner, from Birregurra in south-west Victoria, said she would consider moving to NSW for the duration of the lockdown to be with her 17-year-old daughter Harriette in preference to sending her into hotel quarantine.
"I don't want to take the risk of putting perfectly healthy children into a hotel quarantine," she said.
"Surely it is safer to be able to safely extract these children, get them a negative COVID test, bring them directly home and isolate on farm.
"As Harriette said to me, 'Mum, I just want to come home'."
'These are our kids, they're minors'
During lockdowns last year, the NSW government allowed the Yanco students to return home and quarantine on farm in Victoria until school resumed.
"Now the tables have turned, Victoria is not able to provide the same compassion," Ms Garner said.
Parents have been advised by the Victorian government the students would need to be accompanied by an adult guardian while in hotel quarantine.
"My husband is an essential worker and a lot of the other parents are essential workers too, we've got nurses and farmers. How are we to do that?"
Jodie Green, from Elmhrust near Ballarat, has two children — Matilda in Year 9 and Jordan in Year 11 — at Yanco Agricultural High School.
"I had hoped to bring them home for their designated leave weekend a couple of weeks ago after applying for a permit four weeks in advance but at the 11th hour I got told no," she said.
Victoria does not have a state-run agricultural high school. For many students, the school at Yanco is their closest option to access an agriculture education.
Both Ms Greene and Ms Garner have appealed to the Victorian government to give their children exemptions to come home and quarantine on farm.
"We need an exemption. This is ridiculous and I don't want to be special. I just think these are our kids, they're minors," Ms Garner said.
"We're not trying to break the rules. We're not protesting. We're not marching in the streets. We just want to get our kids home," Ms Garner said.
In a statement, a Victorian Government health spokesperson confirmed that the families declined the Department of Health's offer to repatriate the students to Victoria from NSW via hotel quarantine.
"Victoria has strict measures in place to limit the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant from NSW into the Victorian community," the spokesperson said.
"Exemptions are only granted in extremely limited and very special circumstances, such as in end-of-life situations, and all requests are individually assessed."
The spokesperson said also said the government had offered to quarantine the children in hotels, away from international arrivals, for free.
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