Sick refugee toddler to be rushed to Australia for treatment
For AAP and published by SBS and other publications
A refugee toddler with swelling of the brain will be rushed to Australia from Papua New Guinea for tests and treatment after lawyers took court action on her behalf.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn made a successful Federal Court application on Tuesday for the two-year-old girl to be flown to mainland Australia with her parents for MRI scans and other tests.
The firm's head of social justice Jennifer Kanis welcomed the outcome.
But she said the toddler should've been taken to Australia straight from Nauru, where she had been in detention before being moved to Papua New Guinea.
"The government has since the middle of June known the child has needed to come to Australia to receive urgent care," she told AAP.
"Instead they chose to take her to Papua New Guinea, where she received ... sub-standard treatment to what she would've received here.
"She should never have been put in this situation. She should've been brought here as soon as the doctors on Nauru recommended."
Ms Kanis said the toddler, who was born on Nauru, is suffering from encephalitis, a swelling of the brain caused by a virus.
Jennifer Kanis says the girl should have been brought to Australia earlier. (Image: AAP)
Her condition is stable but she needs MRI and EEG scans to give her the best future health prospects.
Lawyers asked for the girl's mother, who is with the child in hospital in PNG, and her father, who is on Nauru, to be evacuated to Australia as well.
They said the mother does not speak English and the father is needed for support and to help communicate with doctors.
The Minister for Home Affairs' barrister Andrew Yuile acknowledged the girl needed treatment but argued against the urgent need for the father to accompany her.
Justice Bernard Murphy ordered the girl and her mother be taken to Australia within 48 hours and the father join them as soon as practical.
The government has promised to allow the family to remain in Australia while the toddler's health issues are ongoing.
The ruling comes months after Maurice Blackburn successfully fought for a different sick refugee child to be brought to Australia from Nauru for health reasons.
"Nauru is not a place for young children to live in detention, and it's certainly not a place for young people who are ill," Ms Kanis said.
“It's time that those children are brought to Australia to ensure they have a life that is healthy.”
Published by The Guardian and other publications