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A Queensland resident who flew home too late to say goodbye to her dying father was quarantined in a hotel the morning of her funeral, sparking a war of words between the Australian prime minister and the Queensland prime minister.
In response, the state’s health director, Dr. Jeannette Young, arranged for the woman, Sarah Caisip, to come out of quarantine to view her father’s body in private.
Queensland opposition leader Deb Frecklington called on the state Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk to order an urgent review of the case and consider allowing the woman to attend the funeral on Thursday afternoon.
Frecklington presented a letter in Parliament from Caisip to Palaszczuk.
Supplied / Sydney Morning Herald
Queensland opposition leader Deb Frecklington asked the state’s prime minister to order an urgent review of Sarah Caisip’s case (pictured left) and consider letting her out of quarantine to attend her father’s funeral. .
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“My dad is dead and you made me fight to see him, but it was too late,” the letter said.
“Now you won’t let me go to the funeral or see my devastated 11-year-old sister.”
Palaszczuk said: “It is a matter for the Director of Health.”
“The Director of Health has all the details and the Director of Health makes the decisions.
“I made it very clear that these are horrible times that everyone has to go through, every person.”
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison telephoned Palaszczuk on Thursday morning and asked him to reverse the decision not to allow Caisip to attend the funeral.
He said the situation was heartbreaking.
“It’s not about borders, it’s not about federation, it’s not about politics or elections,” he told Ray Hadley on 4BC radio.
“Surely, just this once, this can be done … there have been no Covid cases in the ACT for over 60 days. I just hope they let Sarah go to the funeral.”
Sean Davey / Getty Images
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
The Prime Minister, whose own father died in January, was moved to discuss the family’s situation.
“It was Father’s Day on the weekend and I’m just thinking of Sarah, who had to spend that day in an isolated hotel and there she is today,” Morrison said.
He said that he had talks with prime ministers on a variety of topics all the time and that he generally did not go public with those discussions.
“This is not about the Queensland Premier and me or anyone else … surely in the midst of all this pain in Covid and everything that everyone is going through, surely only this one thing can be done,” he said.
A frustrated Palaszczuk accused the prime minister’s office of ordering a “coordinated attack” against her government.
“I will not be intimidated, nor will I be intimidated by the Prime Minister of this country, who contacted me this morning and to whom I made it very clear that this is not my decision and that I would pass the information on to the Director of Health,” he said.
“The prime minister at the time told me it hadn’t been made public, but I knew he was going to do it.”
Palaszczuk asked Frecklington if the prime minister’s office had uploaded her with the information before question time.
“We know that everything is coordinated these days, but to use the personal tragedy of this family is disgusting,” he said.
Bradley Kanaris / Getty Images
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaks at a press conference while giving an update on border controls on June 30 in Brisbane, Australia.
Opposition health spokesperson Ros Bates questioned why the prime minister had time to meet with AFL officials to coordinate his quarantine stay, but did not have time to meet with Caisip and his family.
Palaszczuk said that “nobody likes to hear these tragic personal stories.”
He said there had been more than 700 Covid-related deaths in the state of Victoria.
“I’m pretty sure there have been people at some point who haven’t been able to attend those funerals,” she said.
“All over the world, we have seen corpses buried in wells, where no family has been able to say goodbye.”
Palaszczuk said that “this was not the time to continue like this,” but rather a time when politicians should work together.
These divisive policies are disgusting and shameful and the people of Queensland will see right through each of you. [political opponents] and what you want to do, which is divide.
“Each and every one of them should hang their heads in shame.”
