By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Eight years of his life were wasted in waiting, says a former Iranian doctor.
In an address to the Back Your Neighbour campaign launch, ‘Ahmed’ (not his real name) described the “painful torture” of his first long years in Australia.
As an asylum seeker forced from his homeland, he met a wall of restrictions.
As part of his initial visa, he wasn’t allowed study or work rights or even Medicare – let alone to practise as a doctor.
“It was quite difficult for me to survive here.
“Seven or eight years of my life got wasted without doing anything.”
The visas are designed to force people to get fed up and go back. But he and thousands of others don’t have a safe place to go, Ahmed says.
He was forced to scrap for jobs paying well below the $22 hourly minimum wage. Washing dishes, delivering pizzas for as low as $12 an hour.
“And I had to do it – at least I was getting something.”
Under the compounding stress, Ahmed was paralysed by a stroke.
“It was a thing that takes you to a point where you don’t want to live anymore.
“You get so much depression that you don’t want to continue your life.”
After that low, Ahmed said he never gave up hope. He continuously applied to Australian universities “seeking help from wherever possible”.
Hope arrived in the form of a University of Melbourne scholarship, which covered his entire tuition fees.
Soon after his studies, he landed work as an audiologist.
“I’m really satisfied, really happy to be in a very respectful, very good job.
“I’m happy to be in a position to contribute back, especially in this time of Covid and Omicron. Because Australia is struggling to get health professionals to fill up all the places.”
Back Your Neighbour calls for a range of reforms to the asylum-seeker system, on behalf of more than 90,000 people in limbo.
It is backed by a local government mayoral taskforce, chaired by Greater Dandenong mayor Jim Memeti and supported by 40 councils across Australia.
Details: backyourneighbour.com.au
