Under the Medevac laws, the minister in charge has an express ability to veto a medical transfer on national security or character grounds, which has not yet happened. Twenty-two transfer applications have been refused by the minister on medical grounds and referred to the independent expert review panel, which has overturned the minister eight times to allow transfers to proceed.

HRLC executive director Hugh de Kretser said that before the Medevac laws, sick refugees were “forced to take legal action” if they were to access “urgently needed” medical treatment.

“Before the Medevac laws, people were forced to go to a court to get the medical care they urgently needed. We were in court at all hours, on weekends and even on Christmas Eve to secure medical evacuations. The Medevac laws work by putting doctors, not politicians, at the heart of decisions about people’s medical care. These laws must not be repealed,” he argued.

“Forcing sick people to rely on the court system to get urgently needed medical treatment is not a good system of care in anyone’s books. We represented people in many cases where the Australian government had refused to transfer women, men and children despite medical evidence of serious risks to their lives if they didn’t receive treatment.

“Every single case we filed was successful in obtaining a medical transfer, highlighting the seriousness of the medical conditions left untreated by the Australian government.”

The federal government’s “failure” to provide proper medical care has “led to tragic consequences”, Mr de Kretser continued.

“Twelve people died in offshore detention before the Medevac laws were passed. Most of those deaths were the result of physical or mental health conditions. The Australian government has failed to ensure proper medical care for the hundreds of people it holds on Manus and Nauru,” he said.

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“It has ignored expert medical advice and people needing urgent medical help have died. Just last year a Queensland coroner found that the death of Hamid Khazaei from an infection after he cut his foot was entirely preventable, and that the Australian government was responsible for the failures in medical care that led to his death.”

The Medevac laws are working, he posited.

“Removing a fair, transparent and doctor-led process for accessing essential, and in many cases, life-saving medical care is cruel and unnecessary. Repealing the Medevac laws will increase the risk of more innocent people dying on Nauru and Manus,” he argued.

The comments from HRLC follow calls from Australian Lawyers for Human Rights for the Senate to vote against the bill, saying such legislation is vital in ensuring Australia complies with its international obligations under the refugee convention and international human rights law.