Coronavirus crisis: Karratha family stranded in Victoria win bid to return to WA

Eleven-year-old twins Zane and Jylah were facing the prospect of a month without their parents after last-minute changes to WA’s border restrictions left the rest of their family stranded in Victoria. Karratha couple Ben Dunn and Shannon Mitchell left two of their four children with relatives in Perth while they made what they thought would be a quick trip to Melbourne for the funeral of Ben’s mother. Before they left Perth on July 9 they checked with authorities and were assured they would be able to return on compassionate grounds. Mr Dunn said the couple and their son Mailer, 13, and daughter Ivy-Mae, 3, attended a family vigil for his mother on July 10 — the same day WA’s border restrictions were tightened in response to the growing number of coronavirus cases in Melbourne. “We said our goodbyes and when we came back to our hotel we got the rejection in an email saying we can’t come back to WA,” Mr Dunn said. “They changed the rules on the 10th, so now they’re not letting anyone from Victoria in at all.” Two subsequent applications were also rejected and he was told the only way the family could be reunited was if they travelled to another state and quarantined there for two weeks, and then spent another two weeks in isolation in WA. Low on funds and forced to borrow money from friends to pay extra accommodation costs, Mr Dunn said they did not know what they would do. But a few hours after he approached the media to publicise his plight, he got a call from police saying the family would now be permitted to return.