INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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This comes as a defeat to Scott Morrison's government
Australian MPs have passed a landmark bill with an opposition amendment making it easier for sick refugees held offshore to be treated in
the country.This is the first time in decades a government has lost a vote on its own legislation in the lower house.The move is a blow for
PM Scott Morrison's minority government's highly controversial immigration policy
Since 2013, Australia has sent asylum seekers arriving by boat to detention centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea.Critics say it has harmed
the welfare of detainees, including children.Doctors have long warned of inadequate medical facilities on the islands, while the UN has
previously described the camp conditions as "inhumane".However, Mr Morrison said: "There is no form of this bill that does not weaken our
border protection." Australia has long defended its offshore detention policy by arguing that it stops deaths at sea and disrupts the trade
of people smuggling.The bill passed in the House of Representatives by one vote after the Labor opposition, the Greens and crossbench MPs
agreed on last-minute amendments
It is expected to sail through the upper Senate later this week where it will become law
Why does this matter politicallyIt's hugely significant that a government has lost a key parliamentary vote in its lower house - this
hasn't happened in almost 80 years according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and comes ahead of a federal election later this
year.In 1941, then Prime Minister Arthur Fadden immediately resigned after he lost a budget vote in the lower house.Tuesday's defeat comes
as a blow to Mr Morrison, Australia's fifth prime minister in six years, and raises questions about whether he can remain in office
The government lost its majority late last year after losing a by-election.But Mr Morrison has ruled out a snap election, saying last week
that he wouldn't "be going off to the polls" even if he lost the "stupid" bill."Votes will come and go, they do not trouble me," he said on
Tuesday after the government's defeat
"The Australian people can always trust us to ensure the integrity of our border protection framework."Mr Morrison's coalition government
has to call an election by May.So what does the bill allowDoctors will now have the power to recommend transfers for refugees on Nauru and
Manus to Australia for treatment.However, the immigration minister could ask an independent panel to review the medical assessment, and
would have some authority to overrule it.Previously, doctors had reported that their medical transfer recommendations were ignored by
authorities.Refugee lawyers thus had to apply for court orders to bring ill people to Australia
There were 44 medical transfers achieved through court battles.Why was there a push for this lawLast year, Australians were horrified by
reports of a mental health crisis among children in detention
Doctors reported affected children too depressed to eat or sleep, and attempts of suicide among those as young as 11.The wave of public
backlash pushed the government to evacuate more than 100 children and their families from Nauru to Australia.Advocates warned that a similar
mental health crisis, and a plague of other medical issues, was also constant among the 1,000 adult detainees stuck on Nauru and Manus
Island.Hamid Khazaei, an Iranian refugee who died on Manus Island in 2014 from a foot infection, is one of 12 people to have died in the
Last year, an inquest into his death found it could have been prevented if he had been transferred to Australia earlier for medical
Image copyrightREFUGEE ACTION COALITIONImage caption
Hamid Khazaei died after Australian authorities delayed his medical
treatment
How many sick asylum seekers are thereThe government had warned that the bill provided a "loophole" that would
allow all of the remaining asylum seekers to reach Australia.However, it declined to answer whether that meant all offshore detainees were
seriously ill.Medecins Sans Frontieres, which provided mental health treatment to Nauru detainees last year, has noted that depression and
suicide ideation was widespread and directly caused by a policy of indefinite detention."Five years of indefinite limbo has led to a radical
deterioration of their mental health and wellbeing," said MSF Australia's director, Paul McPhun.In a public letter to MPs this week,
Doctors4Refugees, an advocacy group of physicians, also identified dozens of cases of sick refugees who had received inadequate
treatment.These included "life-threatening" heart conditions, kidney stones, tuberculosis and diseases common in the sub-tropical
environment, such as malaria, dengue fever and chronic fungal infections.Refugees and their advocates in Australia have celebrated the
