Her mother, Florence, aged 80 & her 50 year old autistic sister Sheryil came to Melbourne from India together with her youngest brother who migrated to Australia in 2012. It was after her dad’s passing away in India, that the final 3 members of the Allen family decided to join her, her spouse, and other brothers, already residents & citizens of this Country. This was the primary reason why Florence & Sheryil came to Melbourne. This law-abiding family simply wanted to spend the rest of their lives together in a Country that gives every “migrant” “a fair go” & a chance for a better life.
Since arriving in Melbourne, her youngest brother also gained his citizenship. Her entire family, brothers, Uncle, Aunts, Cousins & herself & Spouse, are all gainfully employed here, pay their taxes and live as good Aussies should, following the law, to the letter, and, as proudly as I call myself a Lankan/Aussie, this family, except for the youngsters born here, of course, now call themselves proud Indian/Aussies. The only ones with no permanant residency to date are 80 year old Florence & 50 year old Autism victim Sheryil.
This lady has applied for the permanent residency of her Mother & Sister, asks for no contributions from the Government and wishes to sponsor fully, the two last very important members of her family & for reasons that are extremely difficult to understand, this sponsorship has been progressively rejected. The “family” as a whole, are prepared to fund the living expenses,, the medical expenses, the day-centre fees, medical Insurances & why not ?. They are all in a sound financial position to keep her Mother & Sister in relative comfort.This is all they ask for, after all, Florence Allen iS 80 years old & Sheryil Allen isn’t autistic “on purpose”. For this very reason, if these two unfortunate, beautiful people have to go back to India, Sheryil, for one, will be institutionalized, & just the trauma of this for any autistic person, is even hard to imagine, and Mum, Florence will quite possibly die of a broken heart, before her time.Right now, she is her daughter’s main “carer”.
On the 30th of August 2017, they were informed by the Assistant Minister of Immigration that it would not be in the public interest to intervene, when the application on compassionate grounds was finally referred to Minister Peter Dutton. Now, whether the Minister himself has seen this “request” & given it some personal compassionate thought is uncertain, but I DO remember when, in the recent past, A Sri Lankan Lady Doctor was given HIS special permission to stay here, she was able to. I do remember writing a very special “article” and also conveying an eLanka “Thank you” to Mr.Dutton. On behalf of eLanka, each & every compassionate Lankan, Indian & Aussie who gets te chance to read this humble request I now make the plea to Mr Peter Dutton to grant this permanent visa for Florence & her daughter Sheryil to remain here, at home in Australia.
The lady who has given us all the “details” of this sad “rejection” is Jacqui Vanderhort, elder daughter of Florence Allen & sister of Sheryil. I saw them all on the A.B.C. today 7/9/2017 & decided to write this brief story about two special people who deserve a break. I feel certain that Minister Dutton will change his mind on this, when he has the chance to read all the details.
Thank you, very much Sir, in anticipation. “Ethics are aesthetics from within”.
Desmond Kelly.
eLanka.
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