British couple claims their 'future is uncertain' after being threatened with deportation by Australian government

GB News

A British couple fears 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.FULL STORY HERE.

Transcript

00:00couple are facing deportation from Australia after Jessica Mathes was

00:04diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It comes after the pair settled down, down

00:08under in 2017. It was going to be their home but they've now been told they

00:12might have to move. So let's join them, let's speak to them now. We're joined by

00:16both Jessica Mathes and Rob O'Leary. Morning to you both and thank you so

00:21much. We were really touched by your story. So Jessica, you're only young, I

00:26think you're only 30 are you? So it must have been a terrible shock diagnosis to

00:31get MS. Yeah I mean you don't really hear of people getting it diagnosed that

00:37young but also they are getting just better at diagnosing it and more better

00:41treatments are coming out now so I'm feeling quite lucky that it won't be

00:45such a severe case in the future. So are you already on medication Jessica? Yeah I

00:52was diagnosed three years ago and I've been on medication. I've been on

00:55Ocrevus which is like a six-monthly infusion I get in hospital every six

01:00months. Now Rob you're very clearly not Australian, we can hear that from the

01:04accent, but you've lived there for a little while now. Tell us what's going on.

01:08You settled in in Australia, whereabouts are you and what have the authorities

01:12said to you about your future there? Well look so we've been here nearly 10 years

01:17now and ever since Jessica was diagnosed that was when we kind of found out

01:22through the immigration department just by an email that we might not be able to stay

01:28in the country due to Jessica's diagnosis. Obviously with that email

01:33there was no kind of consideration of our previous life it was kind of we're

01:38basing it off what's happened there and that was kind of it. So made the whole

01:46future really uncertain for us you know like I can't really progress, I couldn't

01:50progress with my business, Jess struggled with work so it's been a

01:53difficult situation you know. And Rob just so explain because a lot of people

01:56won't realise there's no NHS in Australia like we have here so you have to pay a

02:01contribution at least towards Jess's care. We pay like a Medicare levy via our

02:09taxes but generally we pay towards our appointments yes and any associated costs

02:17that aren't included with tests. And so that's the logic from the Australian

02:21government is I'm really sorry but you're going to be very expensive to

02:24keep here and therefore you're going to have to go back to the UK. Yeah yeah

02:29that's correct that is pretty much like how it is and that's how it's

02:34explained in the written documents we've got you know. So I don't meet the

02:39Medicare minimum requirements for the visa. And haven't you also said you'll

02:46pay for your own care you'll pay more towards the private section of your care

02:51effectively? Yeah that's correct when we first appealed it we said is there an

02:57option to boost our private health care or to even pay for the treatment then

03:01it's not that isn't an option there's not something that they allow for it's

03:06kind of black and white the law is doesn't allow for any consideration any

03:13compassionate grounds you know that's what we're kind of thinking against

03:16saying that this should be. And you're both appealing Jessica and Rob but what

03:20are you doing now to try to fight this? So we obviously started the

03:25petition. If you're listening on the radio there's a JustGiving site is it

03:33JustGiving please do not deport me and my partner change.org please not deport

03:38me and my partner so you're looking for donations are you to help you fight this

03:40legally? So it's donations towards the change campaign so it's not money that

03:46we would receive it's just to promote it within change so people will get emails

03:49with our petition and you know if they like similar cases or similar subjects.

03:54Okay so it's not a fundraiser as such it's a petition to try and change it not

03:59just for you but for everybody. What happens next and what kind of time scale

04:03are you looking at? The government of we basically actually got rejected 18

04:08months ago and we have been waiting ever since and we've not really heard anything

04:12we haven't even received a tribunal date so at present we're waiting on the

04:16tribunal date because the minister has since I started the petition said that

04:20and he won't do anything until after that. Okay all right well look we wish

04:25you all the best keep us posted won't you Jessica Mathers and Rob O'Leary there.

Category

Transcript

Recommended