PART F – Details of your complaint
Starting with the first event and then the second etc, please tell us:-
PLEASE GIVE DATES (as exact as possible)
· What happened and what was said? Who said it?
· Who did it – their name and job?
· Where did it happen?
· Were others in the same situation treated the same better or worse and why was this?
I suffer from {insert disability here}. I am a New Zealand citizen.
I have permanently resided in Australia since {insert year of arrival here} as the holder of a Special Category (subclass 444) visa. This visa implements Australia’s obligations under the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangements with New Zealand in that it allows a new Zealand national to enter and remain indefinitely in Australia. This visa therefore places me in similar circumstances to an Australian national concerning the right to indefinite residence in Australia.
On the {insert date} I rang the office of the Department of Communities (Disability Services) in order to apply for state government-funded specialist disability services. Whilst making this application over the phone I was asked as part of a supposed residency eligibility question whether I was a New Zealand national, and, if so, whether I had arrived on or prior to 26 February 2001. Only New Zealand nationals are asked for their arrival date in order to make this application. I believe that this was an unnecessary question concerning the right of residency given that arrival on or prior to this date is not a condition of the Special Category visa.
By letter dated {insert date of receipt here} (attached), the Department of Communities informed me that I am not eligible for disability services because I am a New Zealand citizen who arrived after the 26th of February 2001 who is not also an Australian citizen, a permanent visa holder, a TPV holder, or a member of a family on a work or study visa sponsored by the Australian Government.
It appears that an Australian national who arrived after the 26th of February 2001 and who is otherwise in the same or similar circumstances as me concerning their disability would not have been refused disability services.
As a result, I believe that the Department of Communities has asked for unnecessary information concerning my date of arrival in Australia in order to unjustly refuse me disability services based on my New Zealand nationality.
