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Two-year-old boy faces `painful and premature death` as deportation looms â€` Australia

Source: ABC News, 20/06/2019

Kayban Jamshaad has severe haemophilia â€` a bleeding disorder which
stops blood clotting â€` and an acquired brain injury, which occurred
when he was born at St John of God Bunbury Hospital in Western Australia.
He requires weekly medication for his haemophilia and round-the-clock
care to manage spastic quadriplegia, visual impairment, seizure
disorder and developmental delays arising from his brain injury.
Medical specialists said the Maldives was not equipped to manage
Kayban`s complex health needs, and forcing him to live there would
most likely be fatal.
`It`s actually [the difference] between him staying alive and dying,
as hard as it is to put into words,` said his mother, Shizleen Aishath.
Doctors sound grave warnings
In a letter provided to the Department of Home Affairs, his
rehabilitation physician warned that without proper care, Kayban would
likely suffer a severe shortening of his muscles and joints, curvature
of the spine, `osteoporosis, with a high risk of pathological
fractures, hip dislocation, malnutrition, respiratory failures and
premature death`.
WA Health`s Haemophilia Service also advised the department that the
Maldives does not have the resources or systems in place to provide
adequate treatment.
Despite those warnings, the department ruled there was not enough
documentary evidence, or `compelling` and `compassionate`
circumstances, to grant Kayban a health waiver that would allow him to
stay.
`The refusal to allow a child to stay even though he faces the
certainty of a painful and premature death â€` if that`s not
sufficiently compassionate and compelling then I don`t know what is,`
said migration agent Jan Gothard, who is a health and disability
specialist with Estrin Saul Lawyers, which is handling the case.
Kayban`s mother is currently working as a social worker in Bunbury and
holds a temporary skilled shortage visa.
Her husband, daughter and other son were all granted support visas.
`It comes down to an algorithm`
Under Australia`s immigration laws, applicants can be rejected if they
have any condition which could result in significant healthcare costs
or prejudice the access of Australian citizens and residents to health
services.
The department estimated Kayban`s health costs would be $59,000 a year.
It said it was not satisfied his family could cover that cost, despite
them doing so for almost three years without any access to any public
health support, including Medicare.
`I`d like to think we are managing fine â€` all our bills are covered,`
Ms Aishath said.
Dr Gothard said the visa that Kayban applied for would disqualify him
from receiving any public health benefits, so the estimated costs were
irrelevant.
`These costs simply cannot accrue, and yet [applicants] are costed and
they fail the health requirement as if they were going to be able to
access these services,` she said.
`It`s not logical, it`s not rational, it`s just silly.`
Kayban`s case has been taken to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal â€`
a legal process that could take months.
While the family awaits that outcome, disability advocates say it is
yet another example of Australia`s discriminatory immigration laws.
`Frankly it`s obscene that we treat people with a disability this
way,` said Dwayne Cranfield, the chief executive of the National
Ethnic Disability Alliance.
`People are broken down to a cost-benefit essentially, it comes down
to an algorithm â€` the humanity is taken out of the situation, you
become an equation.`
Law exemption allows disability discrimination
Dr Gothard says dozens of families are affected every year, and the
impact is even more widespread.
`I think it sends a very strong message to people with disability
living in Australia â€¦ that basically people with disabilities are
considered a burden on the Australian society, she said.
`They`re not deemed to contribute in any way at all and, given the
choice, the Australian Government would much rather they weren`t here.`
The department said it would not comment on individual cases, but
insisted its policy was not discriminatory.
`All applicants are treated in an equal and fair manner,` a
spokesperson said.
But Dr Gothard said that was `bureaucratic doublespeak`, and pointed
to the Migration Act`s exemption from the Disability Discrimination
Act, to allow discrimination on the grounds of disability in migration
decisions.
Ms Aishath`s employer told the department she would be `exceedingly
difficult to replace` if her family was forced back to the Maldives,
and `it would be a great loss to our company and to the region.`
Many families face same fate
The treatment of Kayban and his family is not unique.
A Seymour couple, who moved from Ireland to central Victoria in 2009,
have been rejected for permanent residency because they had a son who
was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
On Queensland`s Western Downs, a family of six is fighting deportation
back to the Philippines because of their son`s autism.
And in Queanbeyan, a Bhutanese family fears their hearing impaired
son, who has learned Australian sign language, will experience a
`world of isolation` as they face deportation because of his disability.
Another woman who knows first-hand the perils of Australia`s
immigration system is Nicole Forbes-Hood, who endured a two-year
struggle to secure a visa for her son Cameron.
Her family moved from New Zealand to Beerwah, on Queensland`s Sunshine
Coast Hinterland, in 2009.
Within a few years, both parents and one daughter had citizenship or
permanent residency, but Cameron was rejected multiple times because
of his autism and intellectual disability.
`It felt really awful,` Ms Forbes-Hood said

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