There is nothing to repair: Kristina Keneally opens fire in medivac repeal debate

In a salvo which could mean a repeal bill vote tonight, ALP Senator says denying people care is ‘inhumane’.

Senator Kristina Keneally in the Senate at Parliament House on Monday. Picture: Tracey Nearmy/Getty

Debate has begun on the government’s medivac repeal bill in the Senate, meaning it is technically possible for a vote to be held as early this evening with Labor’s Kristina Keneally saying there was no need for the law to be overturned.

Senator Keneally — the Opposition’s home affairs spokeswoman — blasted the government’s push to overturn the bill, saying the Coalition had used the private details of refugees and asylum seekers in its campaign to overturn the medivac laws.

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“We have seen the names, backgrounds, ages and ethnicities of asylum seekers and refugees published in papers,” she said. “We have seen their medical conditions misconstrued and exploited for political gain.”

Senator Keneally said the name of the bill is a ‘fallacy’.

“There is nothing to ‘repair’ when it comes to the medical transfers of sick people from regional processing countries to Australia,” she said.

“Doctors – the people we all trust when we’re sick, when we’re unwell, when we are struggling mentally – were being ignored by people with no medical qualifications”

“Under medivac two treating doctors can recommend a transfer to the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs. The request is then considered by the Minister for Home Affairs”

“The Minister can deny on national security grounds … or if they have concerns on serious character grounds”

“This decision does not get reviewed and cannot be overturned … that request for transfer is rejected”

“Medevac allows sick people to get the medical care they need and ensures the Minister or doctors appointed by the Minister control these transfers”

“Denying people medical care is un-Australian. It’s inhumane. It’s uncompassionate.

Senator Keneally said an Australian doctor called Chris Jones who worked on Nauru in August last year — six months before the medivac law entered into force — kept a diary which she read.

“On the 18th of August last year —- after less than two weeks on Nauru —- he wrote about his experience,” Senator Keneally said.

Quoting from the diary she said: “It is like being witness to people dying on a palliative care ward, slowly fading away, physically and emotionally. The only difference here is that they do not have the dignity of palliative care.”

Senator Keneally said the diary threw a light on how doctors were disregarded by departmental bureaucrats. She also quoted a directive from Michael Pezzullo from June 2015 when he was Secretary of the then Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

“Unless there are compelling medical reasons, supported by second opinions, to do with life and death situations, or situations involving the risk of lifetime injury or disability, transfers to Australia should be avoided as a general rule and should in any event become increasingly rare,” Mr Pezzullo said.

Senator Keneally said the directive “effectively stopped medical transfers to Australia” and argued that there was a 92 per cent drop in them taking place.

“Transfers dropped from close to 550 in 2014/15 to approximately 50 the following year (2015/16),” she said.

Senator Keneally said Labor supported the medivac laws because they allowed “sick people to get the medical care they need.”

She accused the government of neglecting to advance third country resettlement options, including with New Zealand.