British couple fear deportation by Australian government after being diagnosed with medical condition: 'No consideration!'
A British couple fear deportation by the Australian government after being diagnosed with a medical condition, which has led authorities to deem their healthcare costs "too expensive" for Medicare.Jessica Mathers and Rob O'Leary moved to Sydney, Australia in 2017 and had no issues with their visas, until Mathers was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) three years ago.Speaking to GB News about how their Australian dream hangs in the balance, the couple revealed that they were made aware of their situation "in an email" from the immigration department, despite providing the correct funding for their Medicare plan.Mathers explained: "I was diagnosed three years ago, and I've been on medication, Oculus, which is a six-monthly infusion I get in hospital. Jessica Mathers and Rob O'Leary are facing deportation after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS)GB News"We pay a Medicare levy via our taxes, but generally we pay towards our appointments and any associated costs that aren't included."Explaining how they found out about their possible deportation, O'Leary told the People's Channel that the government has put them in a "difficult situation", and had "no consideration" for the amount of time they had already lived in Australia before Mathers's diagnosis.He said: "We've been here nearly ten years now, and ever since Jess was diagnosed, that was when we found out through the Immigration department just by an email that we might not be able to stay in the country due to Jessica's diagnosis."Obviously, with that email, there was no kind of consideration of our previous life. It was basing it off what's happened there, and that was kind of it."LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:The couple from Macclesfield have started a petition, calling for a change in Australia's lawsGB NewsDetailing the personal impact this has had on them as a couple, O'Leary admitted: "It made the whole future really uncertain for us. I couldn't progress with my business, Jess struggled with work, so it's been a difficult situation."Host Bev Turner suggested that the Australian government deemed Mathers's healthcare "too expensive", which O'Leary agreed with.He added: "That is pretty much how it is and that's how it's explained in the written documents we've got, she doesn't meet the Medicare minimum requirements for the visa."The British couple appealed the decision by the government, which was rejected 18 months ago. Discussing their next steps, O'Leary claimed that they now have to wait for a tribunal date to be set, and have set up a petition to raise awareness of their case.The couple told GB News that there was 'no consideration or compassion' for their medical situationGB NewsThe couple stated: "When we first appealed it, we asked if there was an option to boost our private health care or to even pay for the treatment, and that isn't an option, it's not something that they allow for. It's kind of black and white, the law doesn't allow for any consideration, any compassionate grounds. And that's what we're appealing against."We got rejected by the government 18 months ago and we have been waiting ever since, and we've not really heard anything."We haven't even received a tribunal date. So at present we're waiting on the tribunal date because the minister has, since I started a petition, said that he won't do anything until after that."The Australian Department of Home Affairs has said it "cannot comment on individual cases".
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