The Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Act 2019 commences on 2 Mar 2019; Schedule 6 authorises the transfer of individuals to Australia for medical treatment
The Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Act 2019 (the new Act) received the Royal Assent on 1 March 2019.
The new Act contains Schedules 1 to 6. This article discusses Schedule 6 only, which commences on 2 March 2019.
Schedule 6 adds ss 198C, 198D, 198E, 198F, 198G, 198H, 198J, 199A, 199B, 199C, 199D and 199E to the Migration Act 1958 (Cth).
In summary, those new provisions deal with the transfer of ‘relevant transitory’ persons, ‘legacy minors’ and family members for medical treatment in Australia.
Under s 198F, if the Minister refuses to approve the transfer of a relevant transitory person, the newly established Independent Health Advice Panel might overturn that decision, unless:
(a) the Minister reasonably suspects that the transfer of the person to Australia would be prejudicial to security within the meaning of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979, including because an adverse security assessment in respect of the person is in force under that Act; or
(b) the Minister knows that the person has a substantial criminal record (as defined by subsection 501(7) as in force at the commencement of this section) and the Minister reasonably believes the person would expose the Australian community to a serious risk of criminal conduct.
Disclaimer: the above is a mere tentative analysis of a new piece of legislation. The views there expressed might not reflect the views of the Department, the AAT or the courts. The law or policies might have changed between the writing and reading of this article. The author of this article and Migration Law Updates disclaim any liability for any action (or omission) on their part based on any information provided (or not provided) in this article and are under no obligation to keep the general public nor practitioners informed about the matters discussed in this article or any other matters, or any future changes to any of those matters. It is the responsibility of each practitioner to obtain access to primary sources of law and policy by themselves and to carry out their own research and come to their own conclusions on legislation, case law, policies and more. This article is not intended for the general public.
Sergio Zanotti Stagliorio is a Registered Migration Agent (MARN 1461003). He is the owner of Target Migration in Sydney. He can be reached at sergio@targetmigration.com.au