Chief medical officer latest forced off island
A taxpayer-funded doctor hired to look after asylum seekers on Nauru has been replaced after being deported from the island nation for breaching rules.
It comes as the coalition ramps up efforts to pass stalled laws potentially getting asylum seekers off Nauru and resettled in New Zealand, but banned from coming to Australia.
International Health and Medical Services (IHMS) senior medical officer Nicole Montana had a contract with the Australian-funded medical provider to work on Nauru, but the Pacific country chose to deport her.
Her replacement is already in Nauru.
The health contractor said Dr Montana was stood down on Tuesday for breaching the rules of the regional processing centre.
‘‘A replacement senior medical officer is already in Nauru, there has been no impact on the services provided to transferees,’’ an IHMS spokesperson told AAP.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Home Affairs said her removal was a matter for the government of Nauru and IHMS.
Pressure is mounting on the coalition to get ‘‘devastated’’ asylum seekers off Nauru after multiple reports from doctors, and pressure from Liberal backbenchers.
The coalition was yesterday briefing crossbench senators on a stalled 2016 bill that would allow asylum seekers on Nauru to move to New Zealand – but never go to Australia.
Under the proposed laws, any refugee settled in a third country would be banned from ever entering Australia, even under a tourist or business visa.
Labor says the bill is an unworkable overreach, given an immigration minister can already use their powers to stop individuals entering the country.
Morrison told reporters yesterday there was no majority support for the bill ‘‘at present’’.
Asked whether she would support the bill, One Nation senator Pauline Hanson said: ‘‘Yes I believe it needs to be carried through.’’
Hanson said the message needed to be sent that if people were resettled in New Zealand it would not just be for a short period before coming to Australia.
New Zealand has long held the view that any such arrival bans are a matter for Australia.
‘‘Our offer still stands. Who Australia allows across their borders is a matter for the Australian government,’’ New Zealand Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway told AAP.
International Committee for the Red Cross president Peter Maurer told the National Press Club that mental health problems among refugees on Nauru were repeated in border camps across the world.
Last week, global humanitarian giant Medecins Sans Frontieres was also ejected from the island, where it was providing mental health services to locals and refugees.
At a press conference in Sydney last week, Medecins Sans Frontieres doctors said refugees in Nauru did not ‘‘trust’’ IHMS because they saw it as a branch of their ‘‘captors’’. – AAP, Fairfax