Civil Society calls for an end to discrimination against migrants with disabilities
More than 70 of Australia’s leading disability and civil society organisations have endorsed wide-ranging recommendations to reform the nation’s archaic and degrading migration health laws.
The recommendations are part of a submission made by the Welcoming Disability Campaign to a public review of Australia’s migration health requirement being conducted by the Federal Government.
The recommendations call for an end to the Migration Act’s exemption from the Disability Discrimination Act and reforms to ensure that Australia’s approach complies with its legal obligations under core international human rights treaties
Natalie Wade, Chair of Disability Rights at Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) says the Federal Government must change its migration laws so that people with disabilities or health issues are treated fairly and have their human rights respected and protected.
”The current approach is inconsistent with Australia’s legal obligations under core international human rights treaties, particularly the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”
“And as a party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Australia’s migration health framework should protect children from discrimination on the basis of their disability or health status, protect their rights to development and education and place their best interests at the heart of decisions. Currently, it does not,” Ms Wade said.
Darryl Steff, CEO of Down Syndrome Australia says families, who are already making significant contributions to our communities, are being told they may have to leave Australia if they have a child born here with a disability or health condition.
“Not only is this policy unjust, it reinforces the stigma and discrimination that people with disabilities already face. It’s time for reform so that families stop suffering,” he said.
Jan Gothard, Welcoming Disability Migration Policy Advisor says every visa applicant should have the right to argue that the benefits they bring to Australia outweigh any costs. Furthermore, Australia’s migration health requirement has failed to keep pace with community expectations.
“A review of Australia’s Significant Cost Threshold (SCT), which assesses how much a person will cost in terms of health and community services is absolutely essential.”
“The SCT is an arbitrary assessment of potential health care and community costs that is attached to visa applicants with a disability or health issue and is currently set at around $51,000 over ten years.’
“This figure is less than one-third of average health and welfare costs for an Australian. It is completely obsolete and out of step with comparable democracies such as Canada and New Zealand.”
West Australian social worker and visa applicant, Shizleen Aishath, whose child with a disability was born in Australia, described the Australian Government’s approach as non-inclusive, saying, “It’s degrading and very inhumane. It is an unnecessary and heartbreaking experience where you have to prove your child’s worth as a human being and fight a fight that is unnecessary, time-consuming and, in its entirety, very cruel.”
Kerry Weste, ALHR President and Chair of Children’s Rights said, the depth of support for Welcoming Disability’s recommendations has been overwhelming.
‘It’s time for Australia to replace its outmoded migration health requirements with a framework that is compatible with people’s fundamental human rights and which positively recognises their contributions to our community.”
“There is no reason why we can’t have a migration health requirement that protects public health without arbitrary and archaic discrimination against people with disabilities and health issues.”
Contact: Michael Salmon, ALHR media manager: 0417 495 018
Read a PDF version of the Submission and Recommendations here
Read a WORD version of the Submission and Recommendations here
Read a PDF summary of the Recommendations here
About Welcoming Disability
Established in 2020 Welcoming Disability is a joint civil society campaign led by Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) and Down Syndrome Australia and supported by over 100 legal, disability, health and human rights organisations and experts. We are calling for urgent reform of Australia’s migration health laws to remove their discriminatory impact on people with disabilities and health conditions.
The Welcoming Disability Campaign’s Eight key Recommendations to the Review are endorsed by:
- Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR)
- Down Syndrome Australia
- Australian Federation of Disability Organisations
- National Ethnic Disability Alliance (NEDA)
- People With Disability Australia
- Children and Young People with Disabilities Australia (CYDA)
- Women With Disabilities Australia
- Inclusion Australia
- LGBTIQ+ Health Australia
- ACON
- Amnesty International Australia
- Equality Australia
- Australian Women Lawyers Ltd.
- Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA)
- Advocacy for Inclusion
- Physical Disability Australia
- Rights and Inclusion Australia
- Human Rights Law Centre
- Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University
- Australian Lawyers Alliance
- Migration Institute of Australia
- Public Interest Advocacy Centre
- Neurodivergent Labor
- Association for Services to Torture and Trauma Survivors (ASeTTS)
- Centre for Law and Social Justice, Newcastle University
- Deafness Forum Australia
- Cystic Fibrosis Australia
- Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability
- New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties
- Liberty Victoria
- University of Sydney Disabilities Collective
- Equality Building
- Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion
- SCALES (Southern Communities Advocacy Legal & Education Service)
- AMPARO Advocacy
- Imagine More
- Disability Voices Tasmania
- RIAC (Rights Information Advocacy Centre)
- The Growing Space
- Speak Out Advocacy
- Rights In Action
- Kurdish Program on 3ZZZ Community Ethnic Radio
- SANE
- Crossing Borders
- Equality Lawyers
- Down Syndrome Victoria
- ACT Down Syndrome
- Down Syndrome Queensland
- Estrin Saul Lawyers
- Dr Jan Gothard, Migration law and policy expert
- The Hon Elizabeth Evatt AC
- Graeme Innes AM, Former Australian Disability Discrimination Commissioner
- Professor Adam Jaffe, UNSW Sydney
- Professor Julian Trollor, Acting Director, National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health; Head of Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry; NHMRC Leadership Fellow, UNSW Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney
- Kim Oates AO Emeritus Professor, Client Health, Sydney University
- Professor Christine Bigby, Director of the Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University
- Professor Keith R. McVilly, University of Melbourne
- Cornelia Koch, Adelaide Law School
- Dr. Dinesh Palipana OAM
- Professor Susan Harris Rimmer, Griffith University
- Associate Professor Mary Anne Kenny, School of Law and Criminology, Murdoch University
- Dr Robin Banks, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania
- Michael Small, Director, Equality Building
- Helen Said
- Nathan Kennedy
- Professor Charlie Fox, UWA History Department
- Kathryn Viegas
- Min Guo
- Samantha Norman, RMA
- Jane Kenway, Emeritus Professor, Monash University, Professorial Fellow, Melbourne University
- Sarah Pettit, Associate Director Mapien