War vet to be deported as a ‘burden’
AUSTRALIA: A 92-year-old British war veteran and greatgrandfather who has lived in Australia for a decade faces being forced back to Britain and separated from his family because he is a burden to the country’s health system.
James Bradley, who served with the Royal Navy in World War II, has made an 11th-hour appeal to Australia’s minister for immigration to allow him to stay in the country where his daughter, Sharon, and her family live.
‘‘Considering my background, I think I’ve been treated shabbily,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve waited in a queue for permanent residency for 10 years, only to be rejected. I’d like to be able to spend whatever time I’ve got left here in Australia with my family.’’
He and his wife, Peggie, 91, are among 80,000 people waiting for a permanent parent visa – a limbo that can last as long as 30 years, in a system that migration experts say is flawed.
The aged parent visa is available to people over 65 who have a child settled in Australia but applicants are warned by the Department of Immigration that they may be forced to wait decades because of limits on visa numbers.
When the couple came to Australia in 2007 to join their daughter they passed mandatory health checks and were placed in the queue. After seven years they underwent further medical assessments, which James Bradley failed. He now requires a walking frame and is in the early stages of dementia.
A final rejection notice in February last year informed him he had fallen short of the health requirements of Australia’s migration laws. He was assessed to have a condition that would ‘‘result in a significant cost to the Australian community in the areas of healthcare and community services’’.
His wife has also been denied a visa, despite being in good health, because the two were on a joint ticket.
‘‘Although we’re old, we do play a part,’’ said Peggie Bradley, who collects her granddaughter Karis, 9, from school most afternoons.
Last week it was disclosed that an 83-year-old British man who embarked on a life of crime after arriving in Australia at the age of 14 could be forced to return to the UK because he may still be considered a criminal menace.
Robert Kidd has spent about 20 cumulative years behind bars for forgery, bank robbery, burglary and attempting to rob an aircraft filled with bank notes. – The Times