'Not in the public interest': Western Sydney doctors' family to be deported as minister declines to act
Two doctors and their children will be deported from Australia this week after the assistant immigration minister decided it wasn't "in the public interest" to intervene in their case.
After Assistant Immigration Minister Alex Hawke declined to act on their behalf,
Western Sydney Doctor Nasrin Haque was told to "buy a ticket" to take her family home to Hungary this coming Wednesday.
"They said to buy a ticket to send her [back] but I was not able arrange that," Dr Haque told 7 News Online.
"We still cannot believe this."
Dr Haque, her husband Dr Shafiqul Bhuiyan and their teenage son have all had their visas cancelled under Australia's "one out, all out" approval provision for families.
The knockbacks came because Dr Haque's 16-year-old daughter Sumaya has a developmental delay and was deemed to be too burdensome for Australian taxpayers.
More than 31,600 people have signed an online petition pleading for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to block the family's deportation.
But with avenues of appeal all but exhausted, Dr Haque asked for Mr Hawke's assistance only to be told, "it would not be in the public interest to intervene".
When asked why Mr Hawke chose not to intervene, a Department of Immigration and Border Protection spokeswoman told 7 News Online the minister "cannot be compelled to exercise his powers and he is not required to explain his decisions on any case".
"What is or is not in the public interest is entirely a matter for the Minister considering each case on its own merits," Mr Hawke's spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman did not elaborate on the decision further, saying only that it "would be inappropriate to confirm further details, including individual circumstances, relating to this case".
Federal MP for Macquarie Susan Templeman wrote an "urgent" request of Mr Hawke's intervention earlier this month in which she insisted there "is more than enough 'public interest' for Dr Haque and her children to remain in Australia".
The letter stated the mother "goes above and beyond" in her duty as a GP in Pitt Town, working weekends and providing out-of-hours care for her patients.
"I am told that Dr Haque's willingness to server her community as a general practitioner is one of the her reasons her practice's Pitt Town clinic remained open despite significant staffing changes," the MP from Western Sydney wrote
Given her mother's contribution to the community's health and wellbeing, Ms Templeman said she did not believe Sumaya "should be thought of purely as a burden on our healthcare system".
"Deporting a whole family who provides significant services to the Hawkesbury community because of their daughter's developmental delay, is not only unjust and unfair, but will deprive my community of the contribution that Dr Haque makes," she wrote.
Dr Haque and her family will be deported on Wednesday, February 22.
