An Australian woman who returned from New Zealand is angry she has to pay for quarantine when celebrities are being allowed to self-isolate at home.
Nicola Ferguson will have to pay thousands of dollars to stay in a hotel in her hometown of Brisbane after returning from a visit with her dying mother.
Meanwhile Keith Urban and his wife Nicole Kidman recently returned to Australia from the US and were given exemptions to quarantine at their Sydney mansion.
That is despite New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian saying there would be no exemptions when she announced travellers would have to pay for quarantine earlier this month.
Australian media reported it was so Kidman could film her new TV series Nine Perfect Strangers.
Dannii Minogue and her 10-year-old son Ethan were also given an exemption to quarantine at a private property in the Gold Coast.
The news prompted outrage on social media.
Ferguson told 9News money talks "a lot louder than the average tax paying citizen".
9News reported Ferguson was denied an exemption when she requested to isolate in her own house because she had returned from New Zealand - a COVID-19 free country - but was denied.
"Nobody disputes that quarantine is necessary. It is not necessary from a COVID-free country," she told 9News.
Berejiklian told the Guardian the health department had ensured quarantine was being enforced for Kidman and Urban.
"The only issue there was the location of the quarantine but please know that everybody, it doesn’t matter who they are – can I be very clear on this – there is no exemption for anybody from quarantine and that’s why NSW has been so successful," she told the Guardian.
