Hon Andrew Giles MP: please allow my Australian-born 7-year-old boy to call Australia home

"It is a very sad story of a 7-year-old child (born & raised in Cairns city, in Australia), Seongjae Lim who lost his hearing at 2 years old due to a cold and it developed into autism. However, this child has recovered his hearing remarkably after ear surgery aged at 4 years old. He is still suffering from autism but from the next year he can attend some of main stream lessons in the normal class. Seongjae was diagnosed with autism when he was two and a half years old. Because of being an autistic child, his family permanent visa was denied and rejected and they are forced to leave Australia, the hometown of Seongjae 's birth.

Imagine you are a 7-year-old kid born and bred in Australia, and today you hear the news that you are no longer allowed to live here because your Autism is likely to “result in a significant cost to the Australian community”.

Imagine you are a parent reading the official statement that your son will be a significant burden for the Australian community and therefore your family is not allowed to stay.

This is the story of Seongjae Lim and his family, proud members of the Cairns community and Whitefield State School.

This is certainly a devastating story but is not just a personal adversity of the Lim family. It must be a shocking and unbelievable story for members of the Australian community who believe Australia is the best place to live in the world, who take pride in the country’s protection of human rights, and who care about their fellow members of the community.

The economic burden the young kid will bring about could be overestimated and overlooks the contribution that Lim’s family has made over the last 10 years and the potential to make future contributions.

The Regional Sponsored Visa that Lim’s family applied is designed for skilled workers nominated by an employer in a regional or low population growth area of Australia. This means the family has already been helping and will continue helping to solve an important issue of economic development and population growth in regional Australia.

The paediatrician Dr Tim Warnock also stated in his specialist report on May 2022 that Seongjae showed “good developmental progress”. In other words, the future economic burden resulting from the 7-year-old could be minimised as his condition continues improving.

Seongjae was born in Australia, and English is his native language, but knowing that if he returns to Korea, his parents' country, which is unfamiliar to Seongjae, there will be too much confusion and harsh reality for Seongjae, who is still in the process of recovering his linguistic ability and social skills. We earnestly ask you to join the signing campaign so that Seongjae can continue to grow in Australia without losing hope.

Please retract the decision based on the potential economic burden of the young kid. Please allow the family to continue making their socio-economic contribution to the Cairns community.

And, lastly, please do not let this young boy blame himself in the future, thinking his disability shattered his family’s Australian dream.
*For further info (Dr Edward Kim drkimcns@gmail.com), please visit   https://seongjaespray.au