Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I do acknowledge the senator’s long interest in disability issues, and I appreciated her coverage of those issues in her first speech. I thought it was a very good contribution. What the question goes to is a particular case, and I will come to that in a second. As the senator would know, and as I hope Senator Bernardi now knows, the current migration law and regulations provide that persons seeking migration to Australia under a permanent visa have to get a health assessment. If that health assessment indicates that there would be substantial cost to the Australian community as a result of health costs incurred by that person or the person’s family, there is a set of procedures that have been in place for a very long time that go to an assessment of those circumstances and which require decisions.

In the terms of the decision in Dr Moeller’s case, as I answered a question on the other day, there was no discretion available to the department. He has now appealed to the Migration Review Tribunal. If he fails there, it is competent for him to then appeal to the minister, and I would consider the case in exercising my powers, just as all the previous Liberal ministers did. It is the case that there are a number of current cases which involve applications from families who have a child with a disability, and a number of them involving children with Down syndrome have been made public.

I want to stress, though, that these rules have been in place for many years. They do not particularly relate to disability; they relate to health costs and include people with cancer, people with acquired brain injury, people with potential HIV or other medical costs. The same system applies. My personal view is that it is a bit inflexible. I do not think it gives the department enough discretion. I have actually argued for more discretion for the department and less ministerial intervention more generally. So I will have something to say on the broader issue of the treatment of these matters at some time in the near future.

In terms of the particular case raised by the senator, the application of the Perth midwife—and I assume we are talking about the same person, because her name has not been made public—her second-round approval was approved by me yesterday and she has been granted a visa. I made the initial decision back in August to recommend a visa, subject to the security and health checks of her. The file came up to me this week, and I approved her visa yesterday.