Australia faces pressure to change strict immigration policy blocking disabled people from living there.

Australia accused of discriminating against disabled migrants

When Luca was born in a Perth hospital two years ago, it flipped his parents’ world in ways they never expected.

With the joy came a shocking diagnosis: Luca had cystic fibrosis. Then Australia - Laura Currie and her husband Dante’s home for eight years - said they couldn’t stay permanently. Luca, his parents were told, could be a financial burden on the country.

“I think I cried for like a week - I just feel really, really sorry for Luca,” Ms Currie says. “He’s just a defenceless two-and-a-half-year-old and doesn’t deserve to be discriminated against in that way.”

With a third of its population born abroad, Australia has long seen itself as a “migration nation” - a multicultural home for immigrants that promises them a fair go and a fresh start. The idea is baked into its identity. But the reality is often different, especially for those who have a disability or a serious medical condition.

  • Wanderer@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    I meant permanently.

    They must be on temporary visas. A temporary visa is not a visa to citizenship.

    • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      They would have been on a 457 visa which means they were indeed temporary, but they had skills in demand. It is a pathway to citizenship.

      Point is, we’re not just letting people show up for medical treatment.

              • Wanderer@lemm.eeEnglish
                1·
                6 months ago

                Yea if. If Australia did that.

                But they aren’t are they?

                This people don’t sound like they are are going to get medical care but they are being caught out by a completely logical Australian immigration restriction.