A SICK POLICY

In the middle of the Immigration debate this week a caller on 3AW told an interesting story. He had hired a new employee. A recent arrival. He was 58. Virtually unskilled. And couldn’t speak much English. As the employer pointed out: In seven years time that man will be eligible for a pension. He will have contributed very little in taxes. What’s he doing here? I assumed the newcomer was a refugee and we have commitments to a certain number of refugees under a United Nations charter. But, no, he was a migrant.

How could that be? Well, very simply it seems. And it is getting worse. The Immigration Department is loosening its rules on chronically ill foreign workers and their families because of a skills shortage in this country.
 
The figures and the cost to the taxpayer are scary. Taxpayers will spend nearly $60 million on the health care of 288 migrants granted ‘special clearance’ last year to live in Australia  despite failing health exams.
 
These include 59 people with HIV, ten with cancer and 26 with mental impairments.
 
Sixty million dollars. At a time when our public hospital system is in crisis. When non-emergency surgery lists involve thousands of people. Especially the elderly who have paid taxes for forty even fifty years.
 
In fairness, some of these exemptions were given to partners of Australian  citizens. But the Federal Government wants to widen the exemption list. Make it easier for people who would normally be rejected on the grounds of illness,  mental problems or chronically ill family members.
 
All to gain more skilled workers. Which raises the question: Can’t they find enough healthy skilled workers overseas who want to emigrate?  Is the talent pool that empty? I doubt it.
 
And even while applying for more exemptions, the Immigration Department acknowledges the risks. It told a parliamentary inquiry: ‘Additional migration, particularly if current health restrictions are removed, could lead to increased pressure on healthcare systems’.  You don’t say.
 
For the gates to be opened wider the states have to agree. New South Wales is refusing to sign up. Where does Victoria stand? I don’t know.
 
Thursday, January 28, 2010

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2010