My name is Marcela Schmidt Aravena, and I am writing to ask for your compassion, understanding, and support for my sister, Jacqueline Schmidt Aravena, who lives with Cerebral Palsy and significant physical and intellectual disabilities.

Since June 2017, Jacqueline has lived with me and my family in Melbourne. This was not simply a migration decision but a promise I made to our mother before she died: that I would care for Jacqueline, protect her, and give her a life of dignity and love. 

For more than eight years, Australia has been Jacqueline’s home. During this time, she has lived on a bridging visa, fully supported by me and my family. Our home is where she feels safe. It is where her daily routines are understood. It is where she is loved, included, and treated with dignity. Her condition affects her both physically and cognitively, meaning she relies on consistent, familiar caregivers and a stable environment to survive and to thrive.

Despite this, the Minister has refused to allow Jacqueline to remain in Australia. Jacqueline now faces the prospect of being forced to leave the country and the only stable support system she has. This decision is not just administrative. It is deeply human in its consequences.

Returning Jacqueline to Chile would not simply mean moving countries—it would mean losing her support system entirely. She has no realistic access there to the level of family care, stability, and supervision she requires. In Chile, there is no one willing to look after her. Removal would strip her of her quality of life, place her at significant risk of isolation, neglect, and emotional distress, and separate her from the people who love and care for her every single day.

Australia is a nation that prides itself on compassion, fairness, and protecting the vulnerable. This is one of those moments where those values matter.

We are not asking for special treatment or any kind of financial assistance. We are asking for humanity. We are asking for a fair and compassionate exercise of ministerial discretion that recognises Jacqueline’s unique circumstances, her total dependence on family care, and the irreversible harm that removal would cause.

By signing this petition, you are calling on the Hon Tony Burke MP to allow Jacqueline Schmidt Aravena to remain in Australia, where she belongs—with her family.

Your voice can help prevent a devastating injustice. Your support can protect a vulnerable life.

Please stand with Jacqueline.

Please stand for compassion.

Summary

Jacqueline Schmidt Aravena has Cerebral Palsy and cannot live independently. She has lived with her sister in Melbourne since 2017, where she receives full-time family care. Despite this, the Minister has refused to let her stay, placing her at risk of isolation and harm if forced to return to Chile. We are calling on Immigration Minister Tony Burke to intervene and allow Jacqueline to remain in Australia with her family.