The Sunday Project went absolutely in on Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Sunday after airing a story about a man who simply wanted to cross over to Queensland and skip quarantine to see his dying 80-year-old father, but has been rejected a total of four times.
On Sunday,Lisa Wilkinson and Peter van Onselen welcomed Mark and Anneli Kilian, onto The Sunday Project. The Kilians are a couple who live in Los Angeles but have flown into Sydney in an attempt to cross over to Queensland to visit Mark’s father, who is currently losing his battle with pancreatic cancer.
They claim that while the NSW government has allowed them into the country, the Queensland government has rejected their applications for a quarantine exemption four times.
It is believed that Mark’s father will not live long enough for the couple to complete two weeks in quarantine.
They told The Sunday Project that they’ve offered to go to extreme lengths, including wearing hazmat suits at all times while visiting Mark’s father and even chartering their very own $15,000 private plane so that they do not come into contact with other people.
“My father is an Australian citizen. He is one of their constituents. All he is asking is that he has the opportunity to say goodbye to his children, his son and his family and that we can all be there for that last moment,” Mark Kilian said.
“We are watching him fade away. His heart is also broken because he was hoping to see us.”
Naturally, The Sunday Project hosts for the night were pretty fkn pissed to hear this (as anyone with a heart would be) and went absolutely off.
“Queensland Health, what are you doing?” asked Wilkinson.
“This has got shades of the Biloela family about it. An intractable decision, that when you look at everything they’re prepared to do, Queensland Health is completely absolved of any issues. Wearing Hazmats, chartered flights, just to say goodbye to the father.”
“Queensland politicians can’t hide behind the health advice on this,” said van Onselen in response.
“They have the right to make exemptions, and they do it all the time. The Premier gave herself an exemption to get access to the Pfizer vaccine to be able to go to the Olympics. She gave herself that exemption. They give exemptions to diplomats to go and travel and quarantine at home.
“This couple is offering to even get a charter flight to get there. This is a failure and a disgrace by the Queensland Premier,” he continued.
“Annastacia Palaszczuk, if she is watching, she should be ashamed of herself. With a stroke of a pen, she could fix this, and she could fix it tonight, so that family get to see their father. It is utterly beyond disgrace.”
Well, definitely no mincing words there.
A spokesperson for Queensland Health told the Courier Mail that the decision to keep the Kilian family from quarantine exemption was made with the health of the state in mind.
“Our sympathies are with the family, however, these are clinical decisions that are necessary to keep Queenslanders safe,” said the spokesperson for Queensland Health.
