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.
Countries don’t allow anyone in. They get to pick and choose who they want. That’s literally how immigration works.
If they let anyone in and gave then free healthcare then everyone could just go there and get free healthcare. That’s doesn’t make and sense, that’s completely unsustainable.
They are on a working visa. They aren’t on some 1950’s move here and become a citizen visa.
We’re not talking about letting anyone in.
These two were working towards becoming citizens. They were already here.
I meant permanently.
They must be on temporary visas. A temporary visa is not a visa to citizenship.
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.