You Can't Coach That

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Australia is experiencing skills shortages in many industries. The logical thing to do therefore is to import these skills through immigration.

In a country with high levels of education it seems illogical that there would be a shortage of doctors but that is just what we have. This shortage is particularly acute in rural areas where many small towns cannot attract qualified medical practitioners.

Our success record for finding overseas trained doctors is questionable at best. A case in point is the infamous ”Dr Death” who as Director of Surgery at Bundaberg Base Hospital has been linked to several patient deaths. He has since been arrested and returned to Australia after fleeing to the USA. It seams that adequate due diligence may not have been conducted prior to the good doctor’s appointment.

Anyway, back to the main topic of this rant. The Australian immigration department should stand up and take a bow. Congratulations on showing such fine judgement not to mention compassion in the case of Dr Bernhard Moeller. You see, Dr Moellar’s son has Down Syndrome and it is on these grounds that permanent residency has been denied for the doctor and his family. It seems that the future needs of this 13 year old boy are just too much of a burden for the country to bear.

Unfortunately this does not appear to be an isolated case. A Scottish sheet metal worker who has relocated his family to Australia to fill a skill shortage in his area of expertise is also faced with the prospect of being refused permanent residency on the basis of his daughter’s Down Syndrome.

I now run the risk of being branded racist for my next comments but here goes anyway. There has been a marked increase in the numbers of Sudanese refugees in my local area in recent years. As a wealthy country I acknowledge that Australia has a moral obligation to to do its part in caring for refugees and I would not question for one minute that the Sudanese people who have made Australia home are not worthy of our compassion.

What I do have a problem with however is the notion that a 13 year old with Down Syndrome whose father is providing much needed medical skills in a rural area represents an unacceptable burden on the country. The cost of supporting a refugee family who bring no marketable skills would be far greater.

No, I am not against refugee immigration but I am against mindless bureaucracy.

“You can’t coach that”