Australia’s conservative government has scrapped a law which allowed sick refugees held in its offshore immigration detention centres to be transferred to Australia for treatment.
The government had been trying to scrap the law ever since, and finally mustered enough numbers in the senate to do so on recently after reaching a secret deal with independent senator Jacqui Lambie.
“I get that this vote will disappoint many, and I apologise for that. This is a matter of conscience,’’ Lambie, breaking down in tears, told the senate.
The so-called `medevac’ law had allowed the evacuation to Australia for medical treatment of refugees and asylum seekers held in Australian-run offshore immigration detention camps.
Australia has been widely criticised for a 2013 policy of incarcerating asylum seekers approaching by boat on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island and on the Pacific island nation of Nauru.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been a vehement opponent of the law, saying it had presented a national security risk. But others have criticised the move to repeal the law as cruel and inhumane.
Before the Medevac law, it had been extremely hard for refugees who needed serious medical attention to be transferred to Australia. In most cases, courts had to order the government to perform such emergency transfers.
Around 179 people have been brought to Australia for treatment since the law took effect, according to the government.
