National schizophrenia: Immigration system during COVID as a clear example

Australian federal government is facing major challenges because of COVID19, its impact and related restrictions. I agree that there are different views on the reality of what is happening and how to deal with the pandemic. But in this opinion piece, I will follow the official line of explanations and assume that the measures taken by Australian authorities to be in the best interest of Australian residents. I will assume also that the measures will also help other nations and their nationals, or at least will not harm them.

The official story about COVID19 is that it is a deadly virus that is easily transmitted and if not contained will kill hundreds of millions similar to Spanish Flu. The official way of dealing with the virus is to limit movement of people around the world, around the states and around the suburbs. This is why WA is in Iron Wall closure since WHO declared COVID as pandemic. And this is why Australian federal government had sealed our international borders and stopped any movement from and to Australia, expect for very limited cases of Australians allowed to return or workers in critical sectors.

If I agree to this logic, workers at the department of immigration, members of AAT and judges at Federal and High courts should agree also. The minister himself, should agree with the logic his government wants to enforce on us.

These harsh measures caused collapse not only of our economy, but also of our delicate demographic balance: especially the generational balance of old and young. With our migration system stagnant since March 2020, the impact of this stagnation is having devastating effect on our society at all levels.

The stagnation of our migration system had caused deep devastation on our farming sector, with shortage of 50,000 workers causing many farmers to abandon their crops and hence declaring bankruptcy.

Other sectors are deeply devastated also: hospitality, entertainment and tourism.

Not only the stagnation had affected our immediate needs of workers in specific sectors and fields, it also affected our future balance between retirees and new generations that will replace these retirees. Large section of our future generations comes form migration: through marriage, skilled or refugee intakes. 

The Australian authorities will not sacrifice all this unless they are sure that the pandemic is deadly.

From my professional work, I started to doubt that authorities consider the pandemic to be deadly or even slightly dangerous. I will give examples.

Amid COVID pandemic, we (as migration agents) thought that the department of immigration will show great leniency in dealing with both Australians and non-Australians living in Australia. We also thought that other level of authorities like the tribunals and courts will show the same level of leniency.

We thought that leniency is beneficial for both of us: we and them - Australian and migrants.  

We though, and it is highly logical to think so, that leniency will help in filling vacant 35,000 farming jobs that feed Australia and contribute to our GDP.

We also thought that leniency will help restore the delicate generational balance.

We also thought that leniency will help in achieving zero cases by limiting or stopping any movement around the world.

What we discovered was the opposite.

The department of immigration is back to its harsh processing of visas. The tribunals and courts are not taking the deadly nature of the pandemic into account when handing negative verdicts on cases that should have been straightforward.

I will give few examples.

In the case of Singh (Migration) [2021] AATA 1056 (7 January 2021), the AAT member noted that the applicant is “a young male who told the Tribunal that he suffers from no conditions, let alone any respiratory conditions….. {so}.., it is reasonable to conclude based on this that he is at a very low risk of developing serious symptoms that would entail him needing extensive medical support in the event that he developed the condition”. So, it is safe to deport him to India and separate him form his wife of 5 years.

So, AAT member deeply believes that young people (comprises more than 70% of the world population) is immune form the pandemic. The member assumes that all the media talks about deadly spread of the virus in India is mere propaganda. He also assumes that deporting this guy is safe and there is no harm in moving tens of thousands of similar “failed applicants” around the world. Such movement, by this logic, will not cause any harm to the world efforts to curb the deadly pandemic.

When I stated similar thoughts on my Facebook, Facebook banned my account for weeks as it considered me of spreading “false information” that could cause harm to large numbers of people.

The member’s opinion is an official invitation for vaccine sceptics to strengthen their campaigns against the vaccine: by this logic and if the majority of the world population are at very low risk of developing serious symptoms, why they should bother considering taking a jab that has some proven deadly side effects?

Mr Singh is an Indian national married for 5 years to an Australian citizen. His application to stay in Australia on partner visa was refused because he does not satisfy a bureaucratic legislative requirement, despite the fact that the department and the tribunal have the power to approve his application on “compelling reasons”.

What more compelling than a deadly pandemic that caused worldwide financial meltdown and strict closures of borders?!!

And why does our minister tear his hair out every time farmers or hospitality business owners asking him to help filling the job vacancies that causing them bankruptcy?

And how we can justify department deporting an Indian national who is a partner of an Australian citizen to his death, while threatening to jail any Australian trying to flee the death from India?

This is a national schizophrenia: Authorities have solutions on their hands but instead they are creating more troubles that could present solutions to existing ones.

And there are hundreds (if not thousands and tens of thousands) of similar cases.

Minister for immigration can find instantly today enough workers to work in farms to secure our food security and prevent the mass collapse of farming sector. Find enough workers in other sectors facing critical shortage. All what he needs to do is to relax the harsh unnecessary red tape in our migration system.

We are the only developed nation that asked partners married to Australian citizens to leave Australia to be able to live with their Australian citizens (or residents).

We are the only democracy on earth that measures national security and sovereignty by numbers of days partners of Australian citizens had last had a substantive visa.

We are the only democracy on earth that scarifies its food security and financial stability because of bureaucratic red-tape of how the people (who will help save us from hunger) entered the country or how they met their Australian partners and when.

The Australian federal government deafened our ears about how deadly is the COVID pandemic, but it did not advice its employees at the department of immigration, AAT and Federal courts of this fact. Does not this constitute a national schizophrenia?

What kind of national schizophrenia that allows judges to move masses around the world because of simple migration red-tape, causing major disruption to world-wide efforts to contain deadly pandemic, but at the same time arresting and issuing hefty fines to citizens for not wearing masks or defying curfew?

Much of our troubles in maintaining our food security and the prosperity of this nation (and stopping the spread of the pandemic world-wide) depends on a direction from the government to ignore the unnecessary and dangerous red-tape bureaucratic legislations. Legislations that contravene the official advice about the deadly nature of COVID pandemic, as government claims.  

Of course, leniency with refugees arrived by boats and skilled migrants currently in Australia will also achieve all above-mentioned benefits and will help prevent spreading the deadly pandemic.