A “much-loved” Geelong tradie and his family may be forced to return to South Africa after being told by immigration agents that their son’s diabetes diagnosis could be a “liability” to taxpayers.
Nico Willers, 44, his wife Jane and their three children — twins Nico and Esme 13, and Karla, 8 — moved from Pretoria to Geelong in May last year so he could work as a pump technician at a local firm that had been struggling to fill the position for six years, the Geelong Advertiser reported.
Webster Water Solutions sponsored the family on a four-year temporary skill shortage 482 visa, with Katrina Harris, director of the Belmont-based business, describing Mr Willers as a “God send” and “irreplaceable”.
Mr Willers owned a similar business in South Africa but couldn’t land any projects.
“He has more than 20 years of experience,” Ms Harris told the newspaper. “We deal with pumps and water management … it’s not something a plumber can do. We’d been searching all across Australia and New Zealand to find a technician.”
The family settled happily into their new life in the Victorian port city, but last August Nico was diagnosed with type one diabetes.
“He was very tired all the time and he complained about a sore stomach,” Mr Willers said.
After Nico “went downhill fast” he was rushed to Geelong Hospital and spent five days in intensive care. He now monitors his insulin and blood sugar multiple times a day via an app on his phone.
Mr Willers told the Geelong Advertiser that the family wanted to stay in the city but had been told by multiple immigration agents that they may not be granted permanent residency due to Nico’s diabetes, which is considered a “disability”.
The family spent $24,000 moving to Australia and it could cost them $15,000 in legal fees to apply for permanent residency, at $4640 per adult and $1160 for minors.
“Agents are saying it could be a problem but no one is giving us a straight answer,” Mr Willers said. “Some have said our chances of getting permanent residency was almost none but others have said we could give it a try.”
Speaking to Seven’s Sunrise on Tuesday, Mr Willers said the family had been told Nico’s diabetes could be considered a “liability”.
“They say it will cost the government money but at the moment we do all the payment ourselves, all the monitoring, all the injections,” he said. “It is all out of our pockets. Their theory is it’s going to be a drain on the taxpayers’ pockets.”
Mr Willers argued the government should take into account his job security, given the difficulties faced by the business in filling the role.
“We had one guy who started the same month, he lasted about a week,” he said.
“There’s a shortage in trades at the moment, a lot. We talk to people, they say they don’t know. They can’t give us a straight answer. We’ve been paying all the medical bills out of our pockets anyway.”
He said the family dreaded the prospect of returning to South Africa due to deteriorating safety and economic conditions there.
“Getting work for us in South Africa … it’s not good at the moment,” he said.
“It’s really important for us to make a living here and for us to stay here. And with the health of my son, he’s getting the best healthcare there is at the moment. So it’s better for him to stay here and for us, to make a better life. And just normal safety for everybody. You can go to the parks, you’re not able to do it in South Africa. You can’t go even with your bicycle on the roads anymore, just due to safety.”
Sunrise host Nat Barr said it was “ridiculous” that Australia was letting “hundreds of foreign-born criminals and rapists stay in this country” but the “much-loved family” may be forced to move back to South Africa.
A spokeswoman for Home Affairs said while the department does not comment on individual cases, health waivers were “available for a number of visa subclasses, where visa processing officers are able to consider the individual personal circumstances of applicants”.
“Just because a person failed to meet the health requirement, does not mean that their visa will be refused,” she said.
“If a health waiver is exercised by the delegated decision maker, a visa may still be granted. Over 99 per cent of visa applicants meet the health requirement.”
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has faced calls to resign in recent weeks over his controversial Direction 99, issued in early 2023, which allowed dozens of serious criminals to remain in Australia.
The directive required the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to consider an individual’s community ties when reviewing deportation appeals, and led to a number of non-citizen criminals having their visa cancellations overturned.
In one case, a Sudanese refugee with a lengthy rap sheet that included knife crime, car theft, serious driving offences, apprehended violence orders, stalking and domestic assault, was allowed to stay after telling the tribunal he self-identifies as Aboriginal.
Other visa cancellations overturned by the AAT under the directive included an Afghan national who raped a 16-year-old girl and a disabled 14-year-old child, a New Zealand man who was convicted of raping his stepdaughter, and a British man who attacked women on 26 occasions.
The embattled Immigration Minister on Friday issued new legal guidance to replace Direction 99. Under Direction 110, community safety will be the overriding factor when immigration officials and tribunals consider whether to revoke or reinstate an individual’s visa, while weight given to non-citizens’ ties to Australia will be stripped back.
“The revised direction makes it clear that the safety of the Australian community is the Albanese government’s highest priority, and so includes this as a key principle of decision making,” Mr Giles told reporters in Melbourne.
“It also elevates the impact of victims of family violence and their families into one of the existing primary considerations reflecting the government’s zero-tolerance approach to domestic and family violence.”
Levelling blame against the AAT for its interpretation of the previous directive, Mr Giles said “it is clear the AAT has made a number of decisions independently of government that do not reflect the government’s intent or meet community expectations”.
“This new revised direction makes crystal clear that the government expects the protection of the Australian community be given greater weight in visa decisions,” he said.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton continued his attacks against the Immigration Minister on Friday and called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to apologise.
“There are people who have fallen victim to these criminals who have stayed in our country who should have been deported,” he said.
Mr Dutton said the new directive would still overturn non-citizen criminals’ visa cancellations. “This new Direction 110 doesn’t give much changed circumstance at all and it will still give rise to the sort of outcomes that we’ve seen in allowing these people to stay at our community,” he said.
frank.chung@news.com.au
— with NCA NewsWire