Government's disability hypocrisy

Bob Briton

Last week the ABC's AM program lifted the lid on the 
outrageous hypocrisy of the Federal Government in moving to 
deport an Indian family that has been living in Australia for 10 
years. The mother and father have been highly-valued suicide and 
domestic violence counsellors working for the Queanbeyan Baptist 
Church.

However, when Jude and Daisy Morris recently applied for 
permanent residency, they were turned down. No new temporary visa 
was issued and the bridging visa they now have does not allow 
them to work. The Department of Immigration is now asking them to 
leave the country.

The reason for the dramatic turn of events? Rophin, the couple's 
12-year-old son, is moderately autistic. This only became evident 
at age four, a couple of years after the family's arrival in 
Australia. The callous hypocrisy on the part of the government is 
that Rophin's photo appears on a Department of Family and 
Community Services calendar that urges people to focus on the 
abilities of people with disabilities.

The calendar was launched last week to coincide with the 
International Day of People with Disabilities. A media release 
from Federal MP Sussan Ley had the following to say:

"It is often said that people with disabilities are more likely 
to be adversely affected by the barriers they face and society's 
attitudes than by the disability itself. International Day really 
gives us the chance to break down those barriers and to challenge 
people's perceptions of disability."

Nobody from the Department of Family and Community Services was 
available for comment. A spokesperson for the Minister for 
Immigration, Senator Amanda Vanstone, said that she could not 
comment on individual immigration cases.

Rophin's father Jude is still hoping that the government will 
review the case and allow the family to stay in Australia. "That 
is my only request. I hold no resentments, no bitterness against 
the Government. I am simply, as a father of a disabled son, 
requesting the Minister to intervene and to allow our son a 
future and a home."

Rophin's picture features on the government calendar for the 
month of December 2005. The Morris' many friends are now working 
hard to ensure that the family is still living in their home in 
Australia when that month rolls around.