Social Justice Corner
The Medevac Repeal:
Social Justice Politicisation at Work
D
Lauren Forrester
ecember 2019 saw Australia’s medical evacuation legislation for refugees and asylum seekers (‘Medevac’) repealed, reverting such evacuations under the purview of ministerial discretion. Introduced in early 2019, the Medevac law allowed doctors to evacuate critically ill refugees and asylum seekers to Australia for urgent treatment. Initially, the law significantly increased medical transfers – with figures rising from 35 in 2017-2018, to 461 from July 2018 to February 2019. For detainees on the islands of Nauru and Manus Island, this repeal means medical care will be increasingly difficult in an environment where mental health and existing medical facilities are substandard. Media reports covering the Medevac repeal focus on politics as opposed to social justice. Specifically, a secret exchange between the Coalition and Senator Jacqui Lambie leading to the success of the repeal – with 37 votes to 35. The discourse of politicians is inevitably linked to social justice-centred legislation, but the extreme focus within this case ignores the refugee crisis. The deterrence argument would see a decrease in refugees and asylum seekers at the prospect of insufficient medical care in detention. However, Shaun Hanns, a former Home Affairs Department official, argues the repeal is a cruel initiative masked as deterrence that will undermine what was an effective and humane system. At the core of this repeal lies a question of social justice. By ignoring this question, we allow for a potential failure of human rights. It places Australian politics ahead of the innocent lives trapped in detention
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centres. This politicisation ignores human lives- and international obligations. Australia’s obligations are sourced from international legal instruments, including but not limited to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and later 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The common obligation is a responsibility to safeguard the human rights of asylum seekers and refugees. Australia can, technically speaking, flout these commitments. Off-shore detention does not officially violate the principle of non-refoulement. Australia cannot return an individual to a place of persecution, and offshore detention does not. However, it can be argued that human rights are being violated. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees statement on the repeal cited it as disappointing, with concern for the health of detainees. Placement in offshore detention has been argued as a violation of Article 31 of the Refugee Convention, as it is based on a refugee’s method of arrival. Medevac will place medical evacuations in the hands of a minister as opposed to trained doctors. As a result, it is unlikely well-advised and needed evacuations will take place in the numbers they once were. By politicising what is essentially a failure of a human rights obligation, the repeal shifts focus away from those who it affects most. As parliamentary drama and politics take the forefront in the Medevac repeal, the safety and health of refugees and asylum seekers knocking on Australia's borders remain in jeopardy. Ed.1 2021
