The government and the Greens have agreed to a review of the significant cost threshold. It is the backbone of Australia’s migration health requirement, which all applicants for Australian visas are required to meet.
The threshold is used to refuse visas if an applicant or their child has a health condition or disability likely to incur “a significant cost to the Australian community” to treat or support.
Those who recall the many recommendations of the 2010 Inquiry into the Migration Treatment of Disability, which were never implemented, will question whether yet another review will bring change. An open letter signed by more than 100 disability and human rights advocates earlier this year called for immediate reform rather than further review.
