How a Covid-free and fully vaccinated woman is BANNED from seeing her dying father unless she forks out $7,500 for a private plane - with red tape banning her from driving across the Victorian border
Pictured: Anna Coffey, who is desperate to see her dying father in Victoria
An Australian woman who rushed home from the United States to comfort her dying father has been told she needs to fork out thousands of dollars for a private jet if she wants to travel from Sydney to Melbourne.
Anna Coffey, 32, raced home less than a week ago upon getting the heartbreaking news her 80-year-old father John suffered a stroke and is in palliative care at a Melbourne hospital.
Doctors say he may only have days to live and that time is running out for Ms Coffery to see her beloved father one last time.
But despite being fully vaccinated with the Moderna jab, the Columbia Business School student has been blocked by the Victorian and New South Wales health departments from driving south in a ridiculous case of box-ticking.
Diplomats have been allowed to fly into Sydney and then drive to Canberra to enter quarantine, but Ms Coffey was told the 'travel time' to Melbourne was too far - and she would instead be forced to fork out $7,500 for a private plane.
Anna Coffey has been told she needs to fork out thousands of dollars for a private jet if she wants to travel from Sydney to Melbourne to see her beloved dad (pictured, left) before he dies
Ms Coffey raced home less than a week ago upon getting the heartbreaking news her 80-year-old father John (pictured together) suffered a stroke and is in palliative care at a Melbourne hospital
'My dad's doctors can't really say if he will be gone tomorrow, or if it could be a week. He has had two "incidents" in the last week, so if another happens it's probably over,' she told the Daily Telegraph.
Upon her arrival in Sydney, she was not aware she would be stopped from driving the nine hours to Melbourne.
She's currently in hotel quarantine and is frantically gathering information to prove her father is expected to die before the mandatory 14 days of isolation are up, so she can receive an exemption.
But state health authorities are highly concerned about the length of the drive and instructed her to secure a charter flight to Melbourne, worth about $7,500.
'The difference in your situation is that the travel time by road from Sydney to Melbourne is approximately nine hours plus stops and you would need to travel through both NSW and Victoria,' an email from NSW Health said.
The health department said while they understand her situation is 'upsetting and stressful,' the stringent quarantine measures are in place for the 'protection of the community'.
Ms Coffey (pictured with family) has called Australia's strict Covid measures 'inhumane' after being banned from seeing her dying father
Ms Coffey, who hasn't seen her family since the start of the pandemic, called the restrictions 'inhumane' with compassionate exemptions only granted for the very rich.
Since hearing of Ms Coffey's heart-wrenching ordeal, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has expressed his sympathies in a letter and said he hopes a 'solution can be found'.
'To be so close to home but to still be so far away from being able to see your father must be heartbreaking,' he said.
'I farewelled my own father last year and I know how important those last moments are.'
Mr Morrison, who has no control over state quarantine policies, is now reaching out to the Australian Health Principal Protection Committee to draw up a more consistent plan to deal with compassionate exemptions for those blocked from seeing critically ill loved ones.
Since hearing of Ms Coffey's heart-wrenching ordeal, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has expressed his sympathies in a letter and said he hopes a 'solution can be found'