Queensland moves to automatically cancel Covid travel exemption requests amid delays

Exclusive: Some people waited weeks before receiving an email saying their application would be closed if they don't reply soon

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Queensland health authorities have automatically cancelled some long-running applications for compassionate and medical exemptions to enter the state, including cases where people had waited more than five weeks with no formal response.

Last week, Queensland's health directions exemption service wrote to a number of people who had been seeking to cross the state border, advising that their cases had taken so long to assess they would now be closed".