Australia’s migration rules are tough on people with disabilities
This story was produced by our colleagues at the BBC.
He’s only just learned to walk, but two-year-old Luca is already kicking a ball like a pro. Born in Australia, this is home for him.
Luca’s mom, Laura, and dad, Dante, moved here from Scotland eight years ago for jobs that Australia desperately needs: Laura is a nursery teacher, and Dante a painter-decorator.
But the life they’ve built here could be pulled from them in an instant. That’s because Luca was born with cystic fibrosis. Australia says because of his condition, they can’t stay here permanently. In other words: he’s a burden.
“I just feel really, really sorry for him,” Laura said. “He’s just a defenseless two-and-a-half-year-old.”
The sticking point is Luca’s treatment. Australia says it will cost around $1.3 million. The family is now appealing against the decision. If they lose, they will have to leave the country.
“It’s like, we’re here for you when you need us, but when the roles are reversed and we need you, it’s ‘Nope, sorry, it costs too much money — away you go, back to your own country,’” Laura said of Australia’s immigration policy.
Around 30,000 Brits moved to Australia last year, and Claire Day is hoping to be one of them. She worked for London’s Metropolitan Police for 21 years. She has two job offers: one from Queensland Police Service and another from South Australia. But even if they want her, she won’t get in. Her younger daughter Darcy has Down Syndrome.
“She doesn’t have any medical problems. She’s fit and she’s healthy, and she goes to school,” Day said. “It’s bittersweet really, because the likelihood of me being granted a visa is pretty much zero.”
The issue facing migrants with disabilities or chronic medical conditions is this: It doesn’t matter if you were born in Australia, how long you’ve lived there, if you have private health insurance, or even if you can pay for the support yourself. If your health and welfare costs could exceed 86,000 Australian dollars ($58,250 USD) over a maximum of 10 years, you fail the visa medical requirements.
In 2019, the United Nations warned Australia its policies could be discriminating against disabled migrants and their families. But Australia has got a long track record when it comes to strict and historically racist immigration policies. In 1901, Australia introduced the Immigration Restriction Act, also known as the White Australia Policy, which prevented many non-white people from moving to the country. That policy lasted until the 1970s.
“People think of the White Australia Policy or in terms of people of color, and those racist provisions have been removed”, said immigration lawyer Jan Gothard. “The Racial Discrimination Act [1975] meant, in theory, the end to racial discrimination, but the Disability Discrimination Act [1992] did not get rid of the disability and health discriminations, which were set up in 1901.”
“So really, it’s an historical thing,” she said. “We still treat people with disability in the same way as we did in 1901. We think they’re not people who are welcome in Australia.”
Australia’s Immigration Minister wouldn’t give us an interview. But their department did say the government was reviewing the health requirements.
Gothard is part of a group called Welcoming Disability. They made a submission to that government review, calling for an overhaul of the law to make it easier for disabled migrants or those with health conditions to move to Australia.
“If we say to people with disability, ‘you’re not welcome here’, we’re saying not implicitly but directly to people living with disability in this country, ‘You are not welcome here either,'” said Gothard.
Laura, Dante and their son Luca now just have to wait. They’re hoping they can win their case on compassionate grounds.