The family of a grieving man whose partner died trying to rescue a student from a whirlpool say they are unable to be with him in New South Wales due to Victoria's hard coronavirus border.
Senior Constable Kelly Foster and the international student died after being pulled into the water while canyoning in the Blue Mountains on the weekend.
Her colleagues remembered Senior Constable Foster as "a well-respected and well-liked member of the police force".
Her long-term partner was left traumatised and shocked by the sudden death, his sister Nicole Potter said.
"My brother is a resident … there in the Blue Mountains. And most of my family, we're all in Victoria, in country areas of Victoria," Ms Potter told ABC Radio Melbourne.
"I'm just desperate to get our mum up to my brother, he needs the support around him right now."
The NSW border remains open to Victoria, but with a hard border in place on the other side of the Murray River, thousands have been left without a way back home.
"I need to drive Mum, you know, she's not going to be able to drive herself, and because we aren't essential workers then we can't get back," Ms Potter said.
About 60,000 Victorians rushed across the border on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day after the rising case numbers in NSW saw the hard border swiftly put into place.
People arriving by road will be turned away at the border, unless they have an exemption or are an essential worker, and nobody who has been in NSW is allowed to fly into the state.
Exemption 'will take quite some time'
Ms Potter has applied for an exemption, but said she was told by the Department of Health and Human Services "it will take quite some time".
"I must say, the lady I spoke to was very compassionate, in some cruel way because it is such a public issue and it's been in the news, that's probably helped a little bit," she said.
"But of course, she has to follow the rules, and the rules are, the answer's 'no' at the moment."
The Victorian Government has been contacted for comment.
Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said as of late Tuesday morning, 2,798 people had applied for exemptions to enter the state from NSW.
Of that number, 57 had been granted. A further 153 people did not need the exemption due to being essential workers or needing essential medical care.
"I know that the [health] department have put on extra staff in order to deal with this, they are being dealt with case by case," she said.
She urged patience, saying if people had a reason to be in Victoria in one or two weeks' time, they should get their exemption application in now.
"It is a tough decision and I understand it causes hardship for people, there is a tough exemption process to pick up those who are facing the hardest hardship," Ms Neville said.
"But otherwise we've had to make this decision to protect what we've all built together, which is what was 61 days free of COVID transmission in Victoria," she said.
"We don't want to go backwards."
