State border restrictions have forced a Queensland couple to choose between returning home and seeing their family or keeping their jobs in NSW.
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FIFO workers Mia and Jason Studders are working on Australia's largest solar farm project near Armidale.
But the Queensland government's latest border crackdown has left the essential workers unable to return.
The Studders worked on site for two weeks and returned to their Redland Bay home for one week at a time.
Mrs Studders said they had not seen their three teenage children, and her 30-year-old daughter who lives in a care home for almost two months.
"We applied for exemptions but they said we would have to quarantine for 14 days with the kids," she said.
"We can't do that because we can only be away from site one week at a time and the kids have studies and extra-curriculars, they can't just haul up for a couple of weeks just to come down and see us, or for us to visit them.
"If we quarantine we will lose our jobs, so it boils down to choosing between being employed to provide for our family or seeing our kids."
"We haven't had a positive case in Armidale since early August," Mrs Studders said.
"We're not going to multiple exposure sites or hotspots. We're going to a remote worksite and going home, basically quarantining anyway."
She said she and her husband wanted to be treated like truckies.
"Truckies with a freight pass can go backwards and forwards over the border provided they are tested every three days," Mrs Studders said.
"We do one on site every seven days, but I would be happy to up that if it meant I could go home."
Mrs Studders said she was afraid that she would miss spending upcoming milestones and holidays with her children as restrictions only seem to tighten in Queensland.
"My 13-year-old's birthday is on November 19, and when I see the news saying the borders may not reopen until late December, I'm thinking I'll miss Lily's birthday and Christmas."
She said her daughter Ashleigh who has physical and intellectual disabilities has been struggling to comprehend the situation.
"I need to be able to go to Queensland so I can fulfil my job as her mum and her carer. I need to be able to be with her," she said.
"When there's an end goal and date we can make it work. There's lots of zoom calls, we can still stay in touch, but that can only suffice for so long."
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