TRANSCRIPT
The Greens will introduce a bill to Federal Parliament to prevent migrants with disabilities from being denied an Australian visa or deported due to their disabilities.
Currently, most Australian visas require migrants to fulfill certain health requirements.
Greens Immigration spokesperson Nick McKim says the system is discriminatory and ablest.
"Australia has a discriminatory migration system. And one of the ways it's discriminatory is against people with disabilities. So, at the moment, the government can deport people or refuse them a visa based on the fact that they are disabled and that is highly ablest and it needs to change. So we want to see a migration system where people can't be denied a visa because they're disabled where people can't be deported, because they are a family member, or disabled."
The Migration Act currently allows denying someone with a mental or physical disability and their family from getting a visa because they are seen as a burden on the health system.
Migrants can also be deported if the treatment of their disabled children will cost $51,000 over ten years, even if the children were born in Australia.
Community advocate Suresh Rajan says this has huge impacts people and their families.
"You're working in a in a country that is basically saying you're not welcome to stay here and you are actually a burden to the taxpayer. Those things are really quite demeaning in terms of their particular mental health status and stature in the community they are seen as people who are actually a burden to the taxpayer and not contributing in any fashion whatsoever to this to the tax base of the country."
But Senator McKim says migrants often end up paying for their own treatment with the higher taxes they pay.
"Many families who are caught by these discriminatory provisions have been in Australia for many, many years. And in some cases, though, the parents of those families have been working for years often in really high paying jobs and they've paid in tax more than the cost of looking after their disabled family members. So for those families in particular, it's highly unjust, but this ultimately needs to be totally fixed because this is not just about one particular family or one particular kind of disability. This is about everyone who is disabled."
Cases in the past have required ministerial intervention to allow families to stay in Australia.
But Mr Rajan says even that can take years.
"It is not possible to go and seek ministerial intervention until such time as the Administrative Appeals Tribunal has heard the matter and made a decision time frame on that is roughly about two years at the present time. From the time the department makes a decision. It's taking about two years to get to the tribunal, And they post the tribunal when you apply to the Minister for his ministerial intervention. It's then going to take probably anything from 18 months to 24 months after that. So we're looking at a four year period when you're in a state of flux."
Senator McKim says people with disabilities should not be put into such a position in the first place.
"We're glad when the minister intervenes and ensures that a family can stay but those families have already been through a highly traumatic process. And it's that process that grinds families down and leads to, you know, to significant trauma and many family so, so what we want to see is that that process fixed ultimately it's good when the minister intervenes but that comes at the end of what is often a really highly and significantly traumatic process."
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles acknowledged in a statement that Australia's approach to migration health requirements at the moment do not meet community expectations.
Mr Giles says he is working with industry experts and listening to those with lived experience on the issue.
Senator McKim says he wants to work with the government to fix the laws.
"Labor's policy says that people with a disability should be treated like everyone else, and we're hopeful that that policy will drive the government to change their migration and disability policy settings. Ultimately, Labor's position is a matter for them. We're prepared to engage and work with good faith with the government to get the best outcome possible. What I do want to say though, is that ultimately, we've got amendments drafted and we're going to look for the earliest opportunity to move those amendments."
