When Bobbie Dawson was granted an exemption to visit her dying mother in Canada, she planned the trip 'to be as safe and manageable' as possible, taking into account her pregnancy and COVID-19 restrictions. But everything fell apart when she was bumped from her returning flight.
As part of that application, she had a supporting doctor's letter outlining the late term of her pregnancy, and a plan for her husband to temporarily relocate from the family home so she could quarantine by herself.
"Each day the flights were more and more limited, and even the business class tickets were more and more expensive." This notification came with no prior notice that her seat had been reinstated, and three hours after she would have had to check in for the first leg of her original trip."So there was quite clearly some scope."
"On the Friday, we heard from Alistair Coe's office. [They] had received an in-principal approval from the director of the Exemptions Unit … basically saying that she had requested that I be put into the police-managed quarantine facility, and pending approval from ACT Health, I could complete my quarantine back in Canberra," Ms Dawson said.
"I don't think the Government has considered fully that, in granting the exemptions, that they are responsible, I think, for that return," Ms Dawson said. Furthermore, Ms Dawson said she thought the Government also had a responsibility to ensure price gouging did not happen."The Government is saying there's nothing they can do because it’s the airline. But the inequity is something that they really need to take some responsibility for."
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