‘Inhumane’ and ‘Unjustly’: Ombudsman Calls on Victorian Govt to Apologise for COVID-19 Border Permit System

A lone passenger sits at a tram stop on a mostly-empty city center street on the first day of a lockdown as the state of Victoria looks to curb the spread of COVID-19 outbreak in Melbourne, Australia, on July 16, 2021. Sandra Sanders/Reuters

The Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass has slammed the Victorian border permits system as “unjustly” and “inhumane” after investigating the Victorian government’s border exemption scheme.

Glass’s report, released on Dec. 7, stated that from Jul. 9 to Sep. 14, the Ombudsman received 315 complaints from jobless stranded Victorians who were paying double rent, caravanning pensioners without the internet being asked to provide documents they did not have, and a farmer who feared having to put down her animals.