Is it just me or does everyone value compassion above all else?

Is it just me or does everyone value compassion above all else?

Is it just me or does everyone value compassion and common sense above all other virtues?

I don’t normally take up arms for people in other parts of Australia but some of you might know that I am from WA.

My beautiful niece Ellie, who manages a team of carers and social workers in the area where I grew up, is asking for help.

One of Ellie’s colleagues, a social worker named Shizleen Aishath is battling the federal government, desperate to stop her two year old son Kayban being deported back to the Maldives because he is disabled.

Shizleen was brought to Australia on a temporary skilled shortage visa.  Her boss says Shizleen would be “exceedingly difficult to replace” if her family was forced back to the Maldives, and “it would be a great loss to our company and to the region.”

Two year old Kayban is being deported because he has severe haemophilia — a bleeding disorder which stops blood clotting — and an acquired brain injury, which occurred when he was born at St John of God Bunbury Hospital.

Kayban requires weekly medication for his haemophilia and round-the-clock care to manage spastic quadriplegia, visual impairment, seizure disorder and developmental delays arising from his brain injury.

Medical specialists say the Maldives is not equipped to manage Kayban’s complex health needs and forcing him to live there would most likely be fatal.

And here’s the rub, Shizleen, her husband and three children, including Kayban, are here on  temporary and support visas which means they are not even eligible for public health benefits, including Medicare.  Everything Kayban has needed to this date has been paid for by the family. Kayban hasn’t cost us a cent.

Australia must be discerning about new citizens.  There is a process and it should be followed.  But when a little boy, who was born in an Australian hospital with serious complications is being shunned, then the algorithm is wrong.  A human with common sense and compassion needs to override the computer.

Deporting a child for his disability sends a terrible message, that Australia considers people with special needs to be a burden, that given the choice, the Australian Government would prefer they didn’t live here.

Kayban’s case has been taken to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal — but he could be deported before the case is heard.

There is not much we can do to help, you could write to the Prime Ministers Office, Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton or your local member. They are very easy to find on line.

Change.org has a petition up and running, you will find it at www.change.org/p/scott-morrison-save-kayban

There is a weird loophole in the Migration Act which allows discrimination on the grounds of disability in migration decisions.  But it doesn’t pass the pub test in this country.  In my Australia, we put the rights of a child first.

Caroline xx