Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
An Irish family facing deportation because their Australian-born son was considered a “burden” on the health system have been offered a last-minute reprieve.
Anthony and Christine Hyde, and their son Darragh, 3, who has cystic fibrosis, were granted a ministerial intervention on Friday, after their pending deportation caused outrage across the country.
The family moved to Australia in 2009 and have been fighting to stay on since 2015, when it emerged that Darragh’s condition prevented him from passing the medical assessment for those applying for permanent residency
The government had faced significant pressure to intervene. More than 120,000 people signed a petition to let the Hydes stay, and the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, had called on the federal government to show the family mercy.
The Hydes lives in the Victorian town of Seymour, where Christine works as an assistant principal. Anthony is employed by SkyBus and volunteers for the State Emergency Service.
“This is a great family,” Andrews said last month. “The young boy was born here, some compassion and some common sense [is needed].
The case is one of many in which a family seeking residency has had to plead for the minister to intervene because their child was considered a “cost” to the taxpayer.
