In response to our local member Dr Gillespie's reasons for voting to repeal the Medevac Bill.
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Firstly it is not illegal to claim asylum in Australia regardless of mode of arrival as it is human right.
The Medevac Bill was implemented in March, where are all these refugee people encouraged to come to Australia in the past four months?
I visited Manus two years ago. In six years of indefinite detention, the physical and mental health of the men on Manus PNG has declined without proper treatment.
Dr Gillespie says the treatment is better than our regional towns. I challenge him to inspect the Container clinic open 9-5 Monday to Friday in Manus, under resourced Lorengau hospital that cares for the refugees at night and weekends and PIH in Port Moresby that locks the men in or forces them out without attending to their unmet medical needs. Compare that to his local Wauchope or Taree Hospital.
Dr Gillespie says the medical system wasn't broken before the Medevac Bill. Then why are 7 dead on Manus and 5 on Nauru?
For example, the death of Iranian asylum seeker Hamid Khazaei on Manus was preventable and the result of "compounding errors" in health care provided under Australia's offshore immigration detention system, the Queensland coroner found in 2018.
There is no valid reason that Dr Gillespie has made to repeal the Medevac Bill.
As he is a General Practitioner, I challenge him to bear witness with me and examine the people that I am going to visit in Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation that have been medevaced from Manus and discover for himself that the Minister has not made appropriate medical care for those in PNG or for that matter Nauru.
Jill Horton
Port Macquarie