Professor Emeritus Ron McCallum
Blind social worker Simran Kaur received the news of her life recently, when the Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, overturned a decision by the Department and granted her permanent residency. Under our current immigration system, if you are legally blind and you want to call Australia home, the door is closed. Our immigration system is caught in 19th century thinking about disability, viewing people who are blind as burden's to society and in most cases, there is no mechanism to argue to the contrary short of an elusive Ministerial intervention.
Simran, who has an Australian accredited bachelor's and master's degree in social work, and has experience working with vulnerable women, children with disabilities and older people with complex needs, had her application for permanent residency rejected in 2009, solely on the basis of her legal blindness. The health regulations and guidelines that bind the Department and the Migration Review Tribunal, meant that Simran was powerless to demonstrate the merits of her case as a person who has lived with limited vision all her life. The only recourse available was to appeal to the Minister to use his discretionary powers to intervene. Having the Minister grant Simran permanent residency today, is a great win for Simran and her Family and a victory for common sense.
National immigration and disability organisations have long called for equal treatment as a matter of course but the law presently discriminates unfairly against those with a disability. They are seen as little less than cost items on a balance sheet and are automatically rejected.
Unfortunately, this great win for Simran is tarnished by the fact that, should someone like Simran seek to call Australia home tomorrow, they too would be denied this privilege and opportunity. They too would be judged by outmoded beliefs about impairment, and not by the merits of their application. If we Australians place a premium on fairness and merits based policy in our name, we must reject this system, and call for change from the Australian Government.
The 'Enabling Australia' report tabled by the Federal Joint Standing Committee on Migration in June 2010, sets out 18 key recommendations that would, if adopted as a single suite of reforms, bring Australia's immigration policy into the 21st century. If this reform was in place, someone like Simran would have the right to present the merits of their individual case at the time of application. They would have the right to demonstrate their contribution and what real factors mitigate any perceived monetary or community service costs. All sides of politics support this report and it's time for the Australian Government to act now to sign up to policy change.
On this great day for common sense and triumph of Australian values, Minister Bowen ought to be congratulated for clearly seeing the absurdity of the current system.
Professor Emeritus Ron McCallum AO
Deputy Chair of Vision Australia, Senior Australian of the Year 2011 and Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
VisionsAustralia's Renee Williamson And Simran Kaur.
Simran is an experienced and skilled Social Worker holding Australian accredited Bachelor of Arts and Master of Social work degrees from Delhi University. She has experience working with children and elderly people with a range of disabilities, refugees, and women from vulnerable communities. She currently holds a permanent full-time position with Vision Australia providing assistance to elderly people with disabilities and multiple care needs, who wish to remain living in their own home.
Simran has been a client of Vision Australia's advocacy service since October 2009. Vision Australia has assisted her with the initial appeal to Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT), and in her final application to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship to be granted a permanent residency visa.