16-year-old Sumaya Bhuiyan’s family was given time until Friday to present their air tickets to the Department of Immigration to prove she and her mother are leaving Australia, failing which, they face deportation.
Sumaya has lived in Australia for the last 8 years with her GP mother and younger brother.
The family’s application for a permanent residency visa in Australia was declined in 2013 after Sumaya failed immigration health checks because of a “moderate developmental delay”.
The Hungarian national of Bangladeshi origin has autism spectrum disorder.
Her mother, Dr Nasrin Haque was told her disability could result in a significant cost to taxpayers.
Following the family’s appeal for a special ministerial intervention, the department told Dr Haque that Assistant Immigration Minister Alex Hawke had decided it was not in the public interest to intervene.
“If we are deported back to Hungary, we will not be able to function. Deportation would tear our family apart, and destroy my children's’ chances of completing their education and becoming productive members of society” said Dr Haque.
Dr Haque, a full-time medical practitioner, has significant family ties in Australia. She has the option of staying in the country with her son on temporary visas.
"I cannot imagine how I will live without my daughter. I don't actually know what I will do," quoted her as saying.
The medical fraternity has termed the decision of the Immigration department “reprehensible”.
“The fact that an Australian resident of eight years, whose parents and siblings live here, can be faced with deportation due to illness is reprehensible,” said the president of NSW branch of the Australian Medical Association, Brad Frankum.
The chief executive of Autism Awareness Australia, Nichole Rogerson told The Guardian the family’s treatment had “disgusting undertone”.
The family started an last year, calling for a ministerial intervention to stop their deportation.
A spokesperson for Alex Hawke earlier said, "The Assistant Minister only intervenes in a relatively small number of cases which present unique and exceptional circumstances."
