DIMA Annual Report 1996-97

Sub-program 1.4: Health and Character

Objective

To maintain and further enhance a visa framework that supports public health and safety standards.

Description

The sub-program supports legislation, policy and procedures for assessment and decision-making at all visa processing offices in Australia and overseas where non-citizens seeking visas to enter or remain in Australia permanently or temporarily must meet a range of public interest criteria concerning health, character, national security and foreign relations.

Health criteria for visa applicants are set in consultation with the Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) and are designed to minimise the public health and safety risk to the Australian community; contain the cost to the Australian taxpayer in the areas of health care and related community services; and protect access of Australian citizens and permanent residents to limited health care and related community services.

This sub-program is administered in Central Office through the Migration and Temporary Entry Branch and is delivered in all processing offices where decisions are made on visa applications.

Financial and staffing resources summary

	1996-97 Budget and AEs $'000s	1996-97 Actual $'000s	1995-96 Actual $'000s
Budgetary (cash) basis
Components of appropriations
Annual appropriations
Running costs	1 564	2 585	2 011
Other program costs	-	-	-
Total appropriations	1 564	2 585	2 011
Less adjustments	0	0	0
Total outlays	1 564	2 585	2 011
Total revenue	-	-	-
Staffing
Staff years (actual)	6	8	6

Performance information

Outcomes are measured by the extent to which visa decision-makers and Medical Officers of the Commonwealth (MOCs) are supported, in ensuring:

1. health processing and assessment is in accordance with legislative and policy requirements; and
2. character, national security and foreign relations criteria are applied in accordance with legislative and policy requirements.

Performance outcomes

(i) Health requirements

The results of more than 70 000 medical examinations of visa applicants were assessed by MOCs, to help determine whether applicants met the health requirements for an Australian visa.

Medical officers are employed by the Australian Government Health Service (AGHS) which provides the service to the Department under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU defines the parameters for service delivery, including operational targets.

Outcomes for the medical assessment system include the following results:

• 64.4 per cent of requests to AGHS for MOC assessments were undertaken within the service target of 10 working days (26.2 per cent in 1994-95 and 47.8 per cent in 1995-96).

  (This improvement reflects full-year implementation of streamlined processing and assessment arrangements and reduced delays to clients, as recommended in the 1995 Review of the Health Requirement and Associated Procedures. Changes included developing uniform principles to be used in assessing applicants and consolidating deferrals for specialist information.)

  (The rate of improvement is likely to slow in 1997-98 as a consequence of temporary disruption arising from the transfer of the National Health Clearance Unit from the Department of Health and Family Services to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs on 1 July 1997. Once the new Health Assessment Service (HAS) is fully operational in the Department, processing of health assessments will return to its high level of efficiency.)

• Requiring 15 930 applicants to complete a health undertaking to place themselves under the supervision of State/Territory health authorities for public health reasons prior to visa grant (14 420 in 1995-96 and 13 106 in 1994-95).

  (The increase reflects the world wide rise in the incidence of tuberculosis and an improved ability to detect past and current infection in applicants.)

• Letting a contract in February 1997 for the provision of Medical Guidelines for MOCs.

  (The guidelines, comprising 15 papers, will be completed by February 1998. At 30 June, the first two papers, on Ophthalmology and Aged Care, had reached the final draft stage.)

• Work undertaken to effect the transfer to the Department on 1 July 1997 of the National Health Clearance Unit (NHCU), which provides medical assessments and opinions for visa applications lodged offshore and which is the initial point of contact for new arrivals who have given a health undertaking.
• Finalising documentation for a new computer-based processing system for health assessments and undertakings.
• Conducting ongoing consultation with AGHS and HFS about the operation of the health requirements and policy, and mechanisms for continued consultation, after AGHS is corporatised on 1 July 1997.

Chart 5: Number of health undertakings requested

Chart 6: Percentage of requests actioned by AGHS within 10 working days

(ii) Character requirements

Consistent with the Government's 1996 election commitment, options were developed to strengthen operation of the character requirement. These will be considered shortly by the Government and legislation is expected to be introduced in Parliament for the Spring 1997 sittings.

In relation to controversial visa applicants, 192 applicants were referred by processing offices for advice and 28 were refused visas:

• seven failed to satisfy public interest criterion 4001 (character);
• 15 failed to satisfy public interest criterion 4002 (national security); and
• six failed to satisfy public interest criterion 4003 (foreign relations).

Updated instructions on character requirements and arrangements for penal checking were issued during the year.

The Department chaired two meetings of an interdepartmental working group (comprising representatives from the Attorney-General's Department, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Federal Police, Australian Customs Service and the Office of National Assessments) responsible for implementing Australia's obligations to assist the work of the International War Crimes Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. In relation to war crimes matters:

• more comprehensive and consistent guidelines were designed and introduced at visa processing offices to screen visa applicants from the former Yugoslavia more effectively;
• assistance was provided by departmental offices in Sydney, Melbourne and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) to officers from the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in relation to people in Australia either being interviewed by those officers as potential witnesses or appearing as such;
• the details of 129 visa applicants were referred to the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; and
• the names of 739 people from the former Yugoslavia who had come under adverse notice were included in the Department's Movement Alert List.

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