"There is a unit to deal with exemptions and they are decided by the Chief Health Officer,they are not decided by politicians and nor should they – these are clinical decisions,"Ms Palaszczuk said.

"The Leader of the Opposition called for the borders to be opened and the consequences would have been diabolical for this state,absolutely diabolical."

Mr Keans'father,Bruce Langborne,said it was a"hard"time fighting to get across the border but,in some ways,it has brought the family"closer together".

"Well,basically,what[we were told by Queensland Health is],one,we had too many people trying to come up,"he told Nine'sToday.

"Two,we weren't allowed to drive,we had to fly in and then we probably wouldn't get out of the airport anyway,they'd send us back.

"Three,by us wanting to come and see Mark,we're being selfish and not taking any thought as to the welfare of the other cancer patients.

"We could not pick one[child] over any of the others. It's impossible. Every one of them deserves it.

"To me,I think it's ridiculous. The worst one,more so,are the AFL ones,are the ones on the boat[Lady Pamela]. You've got some multimillionaire gets charged $1000 to spend time in Queensland so he can do as he wants."

However,it is understood a decision has not been made either way with regards to the exemption requests submitted by Mr Keans'family and remain under the assessment of Dr Young.

Queensland Health does provide border exemptions for interstate travellers to visit family members at the end of their lives and arranges for them to briefly leave hotel quarantine to do so.

However,it is up to individual hospitals as to whether they allow visitors to see patients,in response to recent clusters in south-east Queensland which prompted restrictions on hospital visitors.

The Queensland Health spokeswoman said the tough border restrictions were in place to protect the lives of Queenslanders and stop the spread of COVID-19.

"We understand and sympathise that this is a very difficult time and there are challenges.

"We are in the midst of a global pandemic and we need to protect our communities,especially the most vulnerable members of the community."

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he was appalled by the case.

"I can only express my supreme anger at the Queensland Premier's decision,which,in my view,is nothing more than base loopy politics,"he said.