Sydney woman’s sad goodbye to ‘warrior’ mum over Zoom

Daily Telegraph journalist Mercedes Maguire described her mum Teresa Florez as a “true warrior” and the “very best of mums”.Ms Maguire said her mum passed away at 3.30am in their family home in Tasmania while she and her three sisters remained in Sydney.The family were unable to reunite despite charity Angel Flight offering to fly them to see their dying mother one last time after calling on the Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein to “simply have a heart”.Tasmanian authorities said the fully vaccinated family was only to be all­owed to enter the state under strict “default positions” that included going to hotel quarantine upon arrival and visiting their mother one at a time for no more than two hours while wearing a mask. They were also barred from speaking to their grieving brothers and sisters while inside the family home.Ms Maguire chose to remain in Sydney because seeing her mother for such a short time would be “torture” and it was unlikely that Tasmanian authorities would facilitate her entry in time. It’s understood that NSW Health Minister Brad ­Hazzard shared a number of exchanges with his Tasmanian counterpart Jeremy Rockliff but no better solution could be reached. Ms Maguire said she was told her fate in a phone call from a representative of Tasmania Police who said there was no room for any discretion, leaving the Dee Why woman with no choice but to say goodbye via a video call on Tuesday night. “The doctor came and said she was showing signs of pain and discomfort and upped her morphine dose, which she said would hasten her end,” Ms Maguire said.The Tasmanian Premier’s office was contacted by The Daily Telegraph.