An Irish grandmother who was refused entry to Australia to visit her son last night said she was “treated like a criminal”.
Anne Ryan Murphy and her husband Audie flew to Perth to see their son Karl, his expectant partner Leanne and their 20-month granddaughter Khaleesi earlier this week.
But their 19-hour Qatar Airlines flight from Dublin via Doha ended with the couple in their 60s being met by border police because of Covid regulations.
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They were questioned by officers for 10 hours before being detained at a hotel and then sent home as they had no medical note exempting them from vaccination. Anne and Audie spent €3,500 on the trip to meet their granddaughter for the first time – timing it to coincide with Leanne giving birth to their second grandchild.
The mum-of-two said they had planned to stay with the young family for two months to help with the couple’s newborn baby which was due this week.
But they weren’t even allowed to see Karl as he called out to them outside their quarantine hotel – as they were ushered away.
Anne said the worst part of the ordeal was not being allowed to even say hello to her son who was eagerly waiting outside in the hope of consoling his heartbroken parents. Anne told the Sunday Mirror: “Karl was standing outside the hotel when we were leaving and the security guard blocked me from even turning my head to see him.
“I couldn’t even see my own son.
“The security guards walked from the van and up to me and put his hand across me and said, ‘Let’s go’.
“He ushered me into the van and put his hand up so I couldn’t even see him. Then when we got into the van it was like ‘go, go, go’, it was like a movie where the driver had to take off at speed.” The couple were left even more shocked to be told they could not give their son three packed bags of clothes they had bought for their grandkids.
Fighting back tears Anne said: “We haven’t even met our 20-month-old granddaughter yet. She had drawn a small picture ‘Welcome Grandad and Granny Murphy’. “When we came down to the reception they said, ‘Leave your bags there, you can’t do anything with them any more, they will be taken now off you into the van’.
“I said, ‘They are baby clothes for the new baby’. We then had to take the three bags and try and fit them back into the suitcases.”
One of the reasons they were travelling to Australia was to help with the new arrival.
Distraught Anne continued: “Karl’s partner is due this week and we got a call to say that her baby is too big to be delivered naturally so she has to go in for a C-Section.
“So now there is nobody to mind their 20-month-old baby. My son is self-employed as well so if she has a C-section she can’t lift her baby for eight weeks and she can’t drive, so there’s nobody there to mind the baby.” Anne doesn’t understand how they managed to fly half way round the globe without being stopped for not having the right documentation.
She said they never once tried to mislead Australian authorities and were completely honest when filling out their travel forms and declared how they were unvaccinated.
She said: “I’m still in shock. I can’t remember when we slept last.
“I mean after a 19-hour flight to be then taken in and questioned for 10 hours. How could you do that? Where is the empathy?
“We have the G2G, DPD, all granted by the Australian government. Nowhere on those two forms did it state that you must have a medical exemption.
“They did say at the very beginning that it was a very serious offence and I was looking at him thinking, ‘My goodness, we have only come to see our children and grandchildren, how can this be a serious offence?’”
Anne said after being pulled aside by border police the couple were separated and quizzed individually.
She added: “We were taken into separate rooms, we were told our luggage had to stay outside the door plus our phones and my handbag. They said, ‘How did you get through?’ and we said ‘Well everybody let us’. We got right through to the very end and the next thing it was the border patrol then who stopped us.”
Anne had not eaten since leaving her home in Co Down on Friday.
She explained: “I didn’t eat anything from when I left that morning at 9am from the day before – so I had nothing but water for 19 hours.
“They told my husband they would try and find him a teabag or said we could have a microwavable meal.”
To add to the couple’s anguish they were told the forms required by Australian authorities will no longer be required later this month.
Anne said: “They said this paper is going to be lifted anyway in two weeks, the border patrol even said it was crazy. They said people are being sent home all the time and nobody is doing anything about it.”
The couple are determined to get back to Australia as soon as they can in order to help out and will be applying for new visas as soon as possible.
She concluded: “We will go as soon as we can. What was our crime here? To see our kids and grandkids?”
Earlier this week, the Australian Border Force told local media the couple had arrived without a valid medical exemption and had their visas cancelled as a result. An ABF spokeswoman said: “It is up to passengers to ensure they have a valid medical exemption if they are unvaccinated against Covid-19.
“This must be signed by a doctor and clearly outline what medical reason exists that prevents vaccination.
“The ABF will continue to ensure those who arrive at our border comply with our laws and requirements.
“All ABF officers involved in this matter adhered to correct procedures which have been put in place to protect the health and safety of our community, and that of all travellers entering Australia.”
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