Coronavirus Australia: Migrants’ choice: food or medicine

Report reveals gaps in safety net for temporary migrants, calls to ensure they are part of vaccine rollout.

A health worker prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Picture: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

Gaps in the safety net for temporary migrants in Australia during the COVID crisis put their health and safety in jeopardy, forcing some to choose ­between medical care and food, a report from the Red Cross warns.

While asylum-seekers and temporary visa holders benefited from some government emergency support over the past few months, more consistent access to a safety net was needed, it said.

The report, part of a global look at the impact of the COVID response on migrants, also calls on governments to ensure ­asylum-seekers and temporary visa holders are allowed to participate in the vaccine rollout.

Its Australian section drew on survey questions to more than 1900 temporary visa holders last October, finding 74 per cent considered the lack of “sustainable financial support” was the largest barrier to staying safe and healthy.

Some 30 per cent said they feared accepting support ­because of their visa situation, which affected their efforts to stay healthy.

“In Australia, the largest barrier to staying safe in the pandemic for people on temporary visas has been a lack of access to sustainable safety nets like Medicare or Centrelink,” Australian Red Cross head of ­migration support programs Vicki Mau said.

“This has meant many have to choose between things like paying rent or seeking urgent medical treatment.”

Ms Mau said there had been a range of government emergency support programs during the pandemic that had helped the visa holders, including international students. They had also ­relied on support from their families overseas, but in many cases this was starting to dry up.

“Emergency relief isn’t ­income support,” she said. “As the pandemic has gone on, we’ve seen two things emerge. One is repeat eligibility, the ongoing need for medicine or additional food. And second, people with existing vulnerabilities have not been able to access support.

“These vulnerabilities may be the same as others in the broader Australian population, such as increased family violence or homelessness, but they have much more limited access to ­ongoing support services.”

Ms Mau said the decision to include temporary visa holders in the vaccine rollout was welcome, and a vital component of any overall pandemic response, but the vaccine should also be made available to those 60,000 to 100,000 people in Australia who don’t have visa status.