Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the documents produced by the minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs on the Independent Health Advice Panel.

I want to begin not by quoting from the report—I will come to that—but by quoting from the Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, on the topic of medevac. On Sky News with David Speers on 22 October 2019, Minister Dutton said: 'The most dangerous con in my view is that people can't go back and you're being forced to take people of bad character. I can't deport them back. That's the law Labor has provided.' In that same interview, when asked if he can detain people who are transferred to Australia under medevac, Minister Dutton responded 'no' and continued: 'The medical advice in some cases will be that if an individual is here for mental health issues, even if they are of bad character, their advice may be not to have them in an immigration detention centre.' When pushed by David Speers on whether he has the power to detain people transferred to Australia under medevac, Minister Dutton chose to shirk all responsibility. He said, 'Well, in some cases you can. But look, I don't make decisions about, you know, those issues.' When asked who does make those decisions, Minister Dutton responded, 'Minister Coleman does, because he's immigration minister.' This is when I turn to the latest report from the Independent Health Advice Panel, or IHAP, for the 1 July to 30 September 2019 quarter, which was tabled in the Senate yesterday. It reads:

Any transitory person who is brought to Australia for a temporary purpose must be detained whilst in Australia. That detention must continue until the time of the person’s removal from Australia or until the person is granted a visa.

In short, this report from the Independent Health Advice Panel flies in the face of Minister Dutton's claims. It makes clear that the minister must detain all medevac transfers in immigration detention by law. It is a deliberate design feature of the medevac laws to keep the Australian community safe. The report clearly states that medevac transfers are clearly for a temporary purpose. Minister Dutton has the ability to return a transferee to a regional processing country at any time. The report proves that Minister Dutton, not Immigration Minister Coleman, is responsible for approvals under the medevac regime. This report proves that Minister Dutton has not been truthful with the Australian people when it comes to medevac. The Independent Health Advice Panel is, as of this most recent quarter, a panel of seven leading doctors, all appointed by Minister Dutton.. The panel reviews medevac decisions when the minister refuses political transfers, on health grounds only. The panel has no power to review on security grounds. The decision of Minister Dutton always stands in these circumstances and is not appealable.

In the July to September quarter the panel considered 57 cases on health grounds. This means that the panel looked at 57 cases where Minister Dutton had refused on health grounds. In the majority of the cases—45 cases, in fact—the panel upheld the decision of the Minister for Home Affairs. The IHAP came to these decisions as the facilities available for treatment in Papua New Guinea and Nauru were considered adequate. A panel of eminent doctors recommended medical transfers in 12 cases, as they deemed it necessary. This is further proof that medevac is working as it was designed to. The government, or government appointed doctors, control who comes to Australia while ensuring that sick people can get the medical care that they need when it's recommended by doctors. When we are sick we get a doctor's opinion, and medevac allows for sick people to get a doctor's opinion as to whether or not they need health care.

This report stands in stark contrast to claims made by the immigration minister, David Coleman, on Sky News on 10 February 2019. When asked by David Speers about the operation of the panel, Minister Coleman said:

… it's quite likely, very likely, David, that the panel would be so inclined that the transfers would occur, and that would mean that substantially everyone would come to Australia within weeks.

The reality, as proven in this report, is that the panel has agreed with Mr Dutton in close to 80 per cent of the cases in the most recent quarter—in almost four out of five cases. On 9 February 2019 the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, told reporters: 'We cannot have Australia's borders determined by panels of medical professionals.' However, as this report shows, those medical professionals are working in accordance with the undertakings they have made as doctors along with rational, clear judgement about the medical provisions available in regional processing countries.

Finally, this report definitively disproves the Morrison government's claims that medevac would unravel or undo offshore processing. In that same interview on 10 February, the immigration minister told David Speers on Sky News:

… it's very, very clear that the outcome of this would be, as our advice suggests, that substantially everyone would come to Australia within a matter of weeks. That's what would happen under this structure …

Then Minister Coleman doubled down further. He said:

… you've seen the structure of the panel, David, but the key point is within weeks it is highly likely—and as you know that's the advice we've received—that substantially everyone who is currently on Manus or Nauru would come to Australia. Yes I do believe that.

That is what Mr Coleman said. No matter how many times Minister Coleman says 'very, very' or what he believes, the reality is that it has simply not happened. In the July through September quarter, the report shows, 96 people were transferred to Australia from PNG under medevac and eight people were transferred from Nauru. By comparison, as of 30 September 2019 there were still 562 people in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. I don't know if those opposite can do the maths, but I have to tell you 96 plus eight is a lot less than 562.

Every claim made by this third-term Morrison Liberal government about medevac is not backed up by the facts. At the heart of these claims lies the desperate attempt of the Morrison government to discredit the medevac scheme. Facts matter and facts are proving that medevac works and that the Morrison government is wrong. The facts have consistently proven that the immigration minister is wrong. They have proven that the Minister for Home Affairs is wrong. They've even proven that the Prime Minister is wrong when it comes to medevac.

I must take a moment to highlight that the report tabled in the Senate also shows that the Minister for Home Affairs and his department do struggle with basic numerical facts. We've seen the department forced before to correct the record on the topic of aeroplane arrivals seeking asylum in Australia. As per this report, they have had to correct the record for the first two independent health advisory reports for the quarters ending 31 March and 30 June, respectively. The June report simply forgot to include the statistics for 25 people who were transferred from Papua New Guinea under medevac in that quarter. It also got wrong the number of people transferred from Nauru under medevac. So the department has, with this report, amended the original figure of zero people to four people. In effect, Minister Dutton's department lost count of 29 people transferred to Australia under medevac. I'm glad that finally the department has learnt to count and that those figures, as well as those from the 31 March report, have been corrected.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the doctors on this panel, including the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Home Affairs, for their commitment to ensuring that sick people can get medical treatment when required. I congratulate the Australian Medical Association representative, Dr Antonio Di Dio, for his elevation to the chair of IHAP, succeeding the Home Affairs CMO, Dr Gogna, whom I thank for his service as chair and for his ongoing role on the panel.

The reality is that medevac works. The leading medical professionals in Australia support medevac. All submissions to a Senate inquiry into medevac except those from the Department of Home Affairs supported this scheme. The religious sisters, the Josephite nuns, Rural Australians for Refugees—I met them this week on the lawn of the Parliament House—were here rallying to support medevac. I believe that quiet Australians support medevac. When people are sick and need help, they go to the doctor, and that's what we should be providing—sick people getting the health care they need.