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.

  • optissima@possumpat.io
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    4 months ago

    How is having a larger workforce that can support more free healthcare not sustainable? Do you think migrants don’t work or anything?

    • Wanderer@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      If anyone could go there for free healthcare then a lot of people without free healthcare would go there.

      If free healthcare care is so easy why doesn’t ever country do it?