A South Australian father has pleaded with authorities to allow him to return home with his two children from a New South Wales ski resort where they are stuck in “limbo-land”.

Key points:

  • The Bunce family was in New South Wales for a ski holiday when the state’s coronavirus outbreak exploded
  • Father Taylos Bunce applied to return to SA but his request was rejected by state authorities
  • He said given the family is 500 kilometres away from a virus hotspot, he hoped they would be allowed to travel home and self-isolate there

Taylos Bunce went to Perisher with his kids, Madeline and Parker, despite the handful of COVID-19 cases popping up in Greater Sydney.

He said the trio has been caught out by South Australia’s strict border rules introduced on Monday, requiring travellers from most of New South Wales to receive a specific exemption to enter the state.

“We booked our accommodation in March for our annual ski trip, and then obviously closer to the time leaving, a couple of cases of COVID came up in Sydney,” Mr Bunce said.

“Having a looking at it, we thought, ‘Oh yeah, they’ll be able to contain it’ — given the experience they had last year, they should be able to do better and go into lockdown.

However, the handful of Sydney cases exploded into a major outbreak which has since leaked into neighbouring states.

As a result, South Australia implemented a hard border with all of New South Wales, which has now left school holiday travellers like the Bunce family stranded.

Taylos Bunce (right) with his children Madeline and Parker at Perisher Ski Resort in New South Wales.(

Supplied: Taylos Bunce

)

Mr Bunce said he was not looking to shirk his responsibilities and had quickly secured a permit to travel back through Victoria and contacted SA Police eight days early, to travel into SA tomorrow.

While the family received a go-ahead from the Victorian authorities, their first application to SAPOL was rejected — despite the trio being able to quarantine when they get home.

Mr Bunce said while he “respected the government’s decision to place the lockdown and protect our state”, it was a frustrating state of affairs given they were currently only 20 kilometres from the New South Wales-Victoria border.

“We had every intention of driving straight through from the border to home without stopping, so we’re not coming into contact with any of the public on the way into self-isolation.

“We’re taking all the necessary precautions … it’s just getting that tick on the paper to get across the border.”

Travellers told to apply online for exemptions

When contacted for comment, an SA Health spokesperson directed the ABC to the state government’s Essential Traveller Health Exemption website.

“All travellers wishing to enter South Australia must complete a Cross Border Travel Registration with SA Police,” the page states.

Mr Bunce said given his application was rejected, he had extended the family’s stay to next week while he tries again.

He said if approved, the trio would have to head into two weeks of self-isolation once they arrived home.

“So we’re pretty keen to get back and make a start on that, so we can get back to normal life after that extra fortnight,” he said.

“Obviously, the longer we stay here, the risk increases of the virus spreading down this way — if it gets down here, we’ll be [in an] even worse situation than we are now.

“As a returning resident nowhere near a hotspot, I just really ask that they reconsider their stance on the blanket lockdown for people returning.”

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