Wednesday, November 26, 2008

There's an "I" in Minister

Back at the end of October, I wrote about the German doctor in Victoria who was being denied premant residency because his 11 year old son has Down Syndrome.

I said at the time:
I am sure this decision will be overturned – either on appeal or by the Minister. It’s such an obviously wrong decision.

And thankfully it has been. Not on appeal - that was rejected, but by the Minister, who in a fit of very speedy work, overturned the appeal in less than a day. Good work Chris Evans.

When you listen to the interview with Dr Moeller you can hear the stress in his voice, and the relief that it is over. So, yes it's great that the right decision was made, but here's hoping Minister Evans gets the Department doing a review of the process, so that he doesn't always have to step in and make the common sense decision.

Obviously there need to be rules to guide officials - but one would hope common sense is given a go as well.

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