Queensland: Quarantine exemption for
woman with disability
A woman planned to visit Queensland from
interstate to pick up her assistance dog, with
her mother and her carer, during a period of
COVID-19 border restrictions. She was granted
an exemption to enter Queensland where she
agreed to isolate for 14 days and then spend a
week receiving placement of the dog. However,
when they tried to arrange for accessible
quarantine accommodation, they were told
the woman’s needs could not be met and
her exemption approval was withdrawn. The
assistance dog had been trained specifically
for the woman’s needs at substantial cost and
they were concerned that she would lose the
dog allocated to her if she was unable to visit
Queensland.
The complainant chose to have this matter
dealt with under the Queensland Human Rights
Act. Through early intervention, the complaint
was successfully resolved for the woman. Her
exemption application to enter Queensland
was re-approved. Queensland Health organised
suitable accommodation for her, her mother and
her carer to complete 14-day hotel quarantine.
Extracted from Human Rights Law Centre, 101 Charter
Cases, 2022.36
FREE AND EQUAL A Human Rights Act for Australia 2022
41