By Paul Smith, AAP
An independent doctor panel will review cases of asylum-seekers held in offshore detention needing possible medical evacuation to Australia.
Campaigners have long warned that detainees are being denied necessary treatment because of immigration bureaucrats continue to override doctors’ clinical decisions.
Now the Federal Government is setting up the new panel to provide “greater assurance” over the way the system is working.
The five-member body will consist of a professional nominated by the Commonwealth chief medical officer, an expert with torture and trauma counselling experience, an AMA nominee and two experts nominated by the Department of Home Affairs’ chief medical officer.
According to The Australian newspaper, the panel will review assessments currently undertaken by department officials on the medical needs of asylum-seekers.
If the panel disagrees with the department’s decision, it can recommend it be overturned by the immigration minister, who will retain final decision-making powers.
The panel will also report to Parliament twice a year, providing “an additional layer of parliamentary scrutiny of transfer-related decisions”.
Dr Nick Martin, a GP who worked on Nauru as a senior medical officer, says: “Based on the information we have, this system does not suggest any real difference from what went before.
“The Australian Border Force’s job is to prevent transfer; the doctor’s job is to say the situation as they see it. This new panel is window dressing to avoid a vote in Parliament. Essentially the panel will still only be able to advise, and the Australian Border Force will, I have no doubt, delay every time.
“Every case for medical transfer, without fail, is seen as dubious.”
Independent MP Dr Kerryn Phelps shares Dr Martin’s skepticism, saying that while the government’s announcement is a “recognition that the system is broken”, it doesn’t go far enough.
“Until now there has been a long, lengthy delay, there has almost been obsessive legal intervention to try to stop people who are ill from being transferred over to Australia for the care they need,” she told ABC’s Radio National.
“[However] it’s not going to solve the problem because we still have bureaucrats making the medical decisions and then being reviewed by a medical panel.”
Dr Phelps is the architect of the private members’ bill due to go before Parliament when it returns on 12 February. The aim of the bill is to remove the power of the immigration minister to deny transfer requests from treating doctors.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned the legislation raises significant security issues, effectively removing from elected officials final decisions on who comes into Australia.
Significantly, if Dr Phelp’s bill does pass the House of Representatives, it could be seen as a de facto motion of no confidence in the government.
Currently there are still four children held on Nauru, despite the government’s pledge before Christmas to have all children transferred off the island.
The Federal Government says it could be weeks before they are moved, with the timing resting with the US, where they are due to be resettled with their families.
When the Coalition came to power in 2013, there were more than 220 children detained on island.
