Advocates are renewing calls for the federal government to drop controversial visa restrictions for migrants living with HIV. They say the rules ingrain stigma and can hold up visa applications for years.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 This really affects people who are applying for permanent residency, which is the first
00:06 step if somebody then wants to become an Australian citizen.
00:09 So essentially people do need to undergo a full medical and if it is flagged that they
00:14 have a chronic disease like HIV or disability, they have to then undergo an assessment to
00:20 see if they'll fall over a financial threshold set by the federal government.
00:25 Somebody living with HIV falls over that threshold, which means that only those with certain visas,
00:32 now this is realistically family visas and some sponsored worker visas, can then apply
00:38 for a health waiver, which is a bit of a loophole to get around the policy.
00:43 Through that waiver they need to prove that they will be contributing to the economy and
00:47 society.
00:49 But it's not a given that you're going to receive that waiver and people who I've spoken
00:53 with who are living with HIV have said that this is a very stressful and emotional time
00:58 for them.
00:59 One woman I spoke to said that she'd applied for several waivers.
01:02 It had taken seven years to prove that she would not become, for lack of better terms,
01:09 this economic burden on society.
01:12 Now she and her husband moved here, two years later she was diagnosed with HIV.
01:17 They have their own business, they hire Australians, they've got four children who they put through
01:21 private school and all of this hadn't been enough to actually get them that health waiver.
01:27 They ended up having to appeal against this decision at the tribunal, which then did vote
01:32 in their favour.
01:33 Okay, what are advocates saying about it?
01:37 Advocates are saying that this is a policy that is outdated and no longer has a place
01:41 in Australian society, especially because a lot of the therapies for HIV are now really
01:47 strong.
01:48 For people living with HIV, if you're on the right medications which are non-invasive,
01:54 then it prevents the virus from developing further, from advancing and also from you
01:59 being able to transmit it along to other people.
02:02 Now the CEO of Health Equity Matters is Darrell O'Donnell and here's a little bit of what
02:07 he had to say.
02:08 For most people with HIV it's taking a single pill a day at breakfast, with their breakfast,
02:15 a glass of water and yet they're being caught up in this system that assumes that somehow
02:21 they'll be a burden on the taxpayer and that's simply not the case.
02:25 Any response from the federal government?
02:26 Yes, look the Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has provided a statement to the ABC
02:31 which was quite strong.
02:32 It basically said this policy does not meet community expectations.
02:37 He says that he is personally intervening on several cases related to this policy and
02:43 that he's sick of it.
02:45 He also says that he is working to address this matter alongside the Health Minister.
02:50 So it sounds like this could be an area to wait and see and certainly that will be something
02:54 that advocates will be really hoping for.
02:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]