His daughter Kate is calling for better communication from the Victorian government after Mr Hinds was left stranded by the border closure and struggling to get back to Tasmania.

"He always had his return fare booked, we'd booked this on December 12 to fly home yesterday because he's got medical appointments to go to. He's just had skin cancer cut out of his neck. He's got a bad heart," Ms Hinds said

IN OTHER NEWS:

When the Victorian government shut the border to NSW on January 1, the family thought Mr Hinds would still be able to fly direct from Wagga to Sydney then to Melbourne and to Devonport, passing through the airports in a "transit bubble".

Ms Hinds said she spent three frustrating and "really stressful" days trying to decipher "misleading" information on the Victorian government's website and was hung up on multiple times in her attempts to contact the Department of Health and Human Services.

"I finally got hold of someone on Monday morning ... and he then read out to me the border exclusion, which is on the website," she said.

"Then they said he'd need to apply for an exemption and they'd get someone to call us back and no-one did."

She said she eventually managed to speak to another government representative who told her Mr Hinds wouldn't qualify for a travel exemption.

Instead, Ms Hinds will drive her father to Canberra tomorrow where he will fly to Hobart and then make a four hour bus trip home.

"We can afford to get to Canberra. But some people don't have that ability. Your vulnerable people that you're trying to protect can't get help anyway," Ms Hinds said.

"How can an 88-year-old man who has been holidaying on 25 acres in a rural town that has never had a COVID case, who needs to transit through Tullamarine Airport for 35 minutes, be deemed that big of a threat that he is excluded from entering the state?"

She said she supported rules to keep the public safe but implored the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services to apply "common sense" when granting travel exemptions and to be more forthcoming with clear information.

The DHHS provided this statement in response to inquiry about the situation:

"We know current border restrictions are causing difficulty for those in border communities and we thank them for their patience in helping us control the spread of coronavirus".

"People transiting through NSW to Victoria from another state or territory, or briefly passing through Victoria from another state or territory but not staying, can apply for a transit permit."