Western Australia criticised by rights group for isolating family members with strict border closures

The government of Western Australia has been criticised by a rights group for its long-running border closure, which has seen families kept apart.

Western Australian police is receiving 3,000 applications per day for exemptions to the state’s hard border, which was put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the police commissioner revealed on Thursday.

Sophie McNeill a researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW), said: “People are being separated from their families for months. We interviewed one young father in Queensland who has not seen his kids for 10 months and he has been rejected twice.”

She added: “We are calling for much more transparency. The system is really arbitrary and the police make all the decisions.”

Ms McNeill said HRW was not calling for the hard border to be lifted, but calling for change to a system that is “not working, and causing huge amounts of distress to people”.

“One of the biggest issues is that the process is so confusing. People don’t know what information they need to provide to police, people will apply and be rejected sometimes within an hour and they don’t know why.

“People are being approved [to enter the state] for employment and not for mental health or compassionate grounds… People moving for employment are being prioritised, which is discriminatory.”

Ms McNeill said HRW had asked for data to be released by WA Police, and has tried to meet with the state’s Police Minister.

Human Rights Watch interviewed 17 applicants who said police denied their request to enter Western Australia. Some reported being denied multiple times.

A spokesperson for state premier Mark McGowan told the ABC that the hard border was in place to protect all West Australians, and had allowed life in the state to get back to "Covid normal" faster than the eastern states.

“If a person applies to enter Western Australia under compassionate grounds, stating medical reasons, they will be required to provide medical evidence to support their claim. WA Police advise that they regularly liaise with Department of Health and seek input and advice from health professionals to assist in assessing this medical evidence and information provided to police,” he said.