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Health ref. no.807

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT

HEALTH INSURANCE ACT 1973

Health Insurance (Eligible persons unauthorised maritime arrivals and holders of Bridging E (Class WE) visa) Order 2017

I, GREG HUNT, Minister for Health, pursuant to subsection 6(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (the Act) hereby DECLARE that:

    (a)          Every person included in the specified class of persons:

        (i)                 is an unauthorised maritime arrival; and
        (ii)               who is the holder of a Bridging E (Class WE) visa,

being a person who, but for this Order, would not be an eligible person for the purposes of the Act shall, during any period in which the person was, or is, in Australia on, or after, 25 November 2011, be treated as having been an eligible person for the purposes of the Act.

    (b)          In this Order the term unauthorised maritime arrival has the meaning given by the Migration Act 1958, as in force from time to time.

    (c)          This Order shall have effect from the date of signature.

Dated this   26th   day of October 2017

GREG HUNT
MINISTER FOR HEALTH

ATTACHMENT - STATEMENT OF REASONS

Health Insurance Act 1973
Class Order under subsection 6(1)

ORDER NO: 807

DATE OF ORDER: 2017

RELATED ORDER: 775, 776, 777

                            NAME OF PERSON/GROUP: Unauthorised maritime arrivals holding a Bridging E (Class WE) visa
REASON FOR APPROVAL:

An "unauthorised maritime arrival" is a person who has entered Australia by sea, at an excised offshore place at any time after the excision time for that place, or at any other place at any time on or after the commencement of the Migration Amendment (Unauthorised Maritime Arrivals and Other Matters) Act 2013, and they became an unlawful non-citizen because of that entry and they are not an 'excluded maritime arrival', as defined in section 5AA of the Migration Act 1958 (the Act). The Migration Amendment (Unauthorised Maritime Arrivals and Other Matters) Act 2013 abolished the term 'offshore entry person'.

Under section 195A of the Act the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection may grant bridging visas to certain persons currently in immigration detention, so that they can live in the Australian community lawfully while their claims for protection are being assessed. Since 25 November 2011, various Ministers for Immigration and Citizenship and the current Minister for Immigration and Border Protection have exercised their power under section 195A of the Migration Act 1958 to grant bridging visas to certain persons.

The Report of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers was released on 13 August 2012 and the Government endorsed, in principle, all of its recommendations. Recommendation 1 identified principles which should shape policy making on asylum seeker issues, including the application of a 'no advantage' principle to ensure that no benefit