Why a Victorian woman who ‘followed all the directions’ is in hotel quarantine

A Victorian woman who “followed all the directions” was shocked to find herself put into hotel quarantine last night after returning from interstate travel.

Elizabeth Dornom returned home yesterday after travel in Queensland and northern NSW.

Upon arrival in Melbourne she was told she was required to go into hotel quarantine because she had visited NSW in the previous 14 days.

But that’s at odds with what she was told when she called the COVID hotline.

“We left Melbourne just after Christmas and flew to Queensland, and from there travelled directly into Tenterfield, which is 15 kilometres into NSW from the Queensland border,” she told Tony Jones, filling in for Neil Mitchell.

“We left NSW before midnight on the 1st of January and went back to Queensland.

“Last night flew back from Queensland to Melbourne and I found myself in hotel quarantine even though … I’ve only been in green zones.”

Ms Dornan says she followed the directions on the DHHS website, which suggested she would not need to quarantine because she left NSW before midnight on January 1.

“If we had have flown from NSW to Victoria before midnight on the 1st of January we would have been in Victoria free and able,” she said.

“COVID official officers have told us there’s many other people in our situation, which doesn’t necessarily give us a lot of comfort.

“It’s all at the state’s expense … it just seems like such a waste of taxpayer money when we’ve followed all the directions and have been nowhere near any red zones.”

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