Failure to Consider the Potential Contribution of People with Disability
The mandatory health requirement results in many people with disability, particularly children, being unreasonably denied an Australian visa. People with disability are more likely to fail the health requirement given the focus is exclusively on the perceived economic cost of the applicant’s ‘condition’ and the burden this will place on public health and community resources. There is no consideration of the economic and social contributions people with disability make to the Australian economy and community life.315
The mandatory health requirement has a significant negative impact on families that include children and adults with disability. All members of a family group will be denied visas on the basis that a family member with disability has failed the health requirement. Many families are forced to make a difficult decision to leave behind a family member in order to build a life in Australia. In cases involving humanitarian entrants, family members with disability will remain in extremely vulnerable situations, having also been displaced by war, persecution, or civil unrest, but unable to join their families in Australia.316
Case Study
Dr Moeller, a German migrant doctor, had been working in a Victorian country town for nearly three years as a much needed specialist physician. Despite his service and enormous contribution to the town’s population, he had twice earlier been refused permanent residency. His applications were refused because his son Lukas, aged 13, has Down syndrome, and was considered too much of a burden on taxpayers.317 In 2008, the Department of Immigration again refused the family permanent residency status and their appeal was rejected by the Migration Review Tribunal. However, in November 2008, following significant public pressure, the Minister for Immigration approved Dr Moeller’s application for ministerial intervention and granted his family permanent residency status.318
