With the fate of the medevac laws set to be decided within days, one asylum seeker in Papua New Guinea has made a last-minute plea to Senator Jacqui Lambie.
The independent senator holds the crucial swing vote in the medevac repeal and
signalled on Wednesday she will vote to scrap the laws on one condition, which she is not revealing.
Debate about the laws, which give doctors more say in emergency medical transfers of offshore asylum seekers to Australia, is being closely followed by those it affects in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
Shaminda Kanapathi, a Sri Lankan asylum seeker in Port Moresby, said the repeal would have severe consequences.
Shaminda Kanapathi talks to SBS News from Port Moresby. Source: SBS News
"I do not know what condition Jacqui Lambie has put to the government, but if [she] has been listening to the doctors and the refugees who have been left without help, she will not allow politicians to have the final say over whether refugees can get the medical treatment they need," he told SBS News.
The laws were passed earlier this year against the government's wishes.
They allow for extremely sick asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea and Nauru to be transferred to Australia temporarily on the advice of two independent Australian doctors. But Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton maintains the power to deny the application on national security grounds.
"We appeal to Senator Lambie's sense of justice ... We are all at breaking point with acute and chronic physical and mental illnesses rapidly deteriorating. The repeal will deny us appropriate medical care of which the consequences will be devastating," Mr Kanapathi said
"Medevac legislation has saved lives ... [But] if the government is allowed to return to the days when politicians decided whether or not refugees got medical treatment, more people who are severely sick will die offshore."
Mr Kanapathi fled his native Sri Lanka and tried to come to Australia by boat in 2013.
Senator Jacqui Lambie says her support for the government's bid to repeal medevac is contingent on one condition. Source: AAP
After being intercepted, he was sent to Australian detention facilities on Manus Island, where he spent the following six years. Mr Kanapathi and the .
"Yes, there are problems with medevac," he said.
"It is too slow and too many people are still waiting for treatment. It takes massive coordination, and hundreds of hours of doctors' voluntary time in assessing the cases and writing the reports."
"There have been deliberate delays by the government to buy time, and this excessive waiting makes severely sick men worse. [But] at least with the legislation in place, eventually they will receive the treatment they have been desperately waiting for."
He also took aim at the government's claims that the laws weaken Australia's border protection.
"The Australian government put forward propaganda that this medevac legislation allows those who are alleged criminals to come to Australia. This is an unethical argument because the minister always holds the power to reject the application of those who have engaged in crime," he said.
"The Australian government is accountable for the draconian conditions imposed upon us, and it's their responsibility to provide the medical treatment for those that need it. Watching our friends die is hard, possibly even harder than being separated from our families."
'A total lie'
Pressure on politicians to save medevac is coming from even further afield.
The Ads-Up Refugee Network, a group of Australians in the US and Canada working to help resettle PNG and Nauru refugees, is campaigning from North America.
"The argument that refugees are being provided adequate support on PNG and Nauru needs to be called for what it is - a total lie. We know the reality because we see the conditions of refugees arriving directly to the USA from PNG and Nauru under the transfer deal," co-founder Ben Winsor said in a statement to SBS News.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton flags isolated mining towns as locations for quarantine facilities. Source: AAP
"We've seen men and women arriving with leaky heart valves, severe kidney problems, fungal infections, stomach infections, severe skin conditions and botched vaginal surgery - not to mention untreated PTSD," he said.
"Some arrive with ongoing conditions which could have been treated with $20 medications available at any pharmacy in Australia."
Government defends stance
SBS News contacted the Department of Home Affairs about Mr Kanapathi's comments and broader criticism of the medevac repeal.
"The department does not comment on individual cases," a spokesperson said.
Previously, the government has said the medevac laws "essentially outsource our migration system".
"From our point of view it is very important that the medevac legislation is repealed," Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told ABC radio earlier this week.
"Labor, in the lead up to the last election, forced legislation through the parliament that essentially outsourced our migration system and a key feature of our national security arrangements to advocates who happen to also be doctors."
He said sick asylum seekers would still be able to come to Australia once the medevac laws were repealed.
"Medical transfers were available before the legislation, they will be available after the legislation has been repealed, but subject to more appropriate safeguards," he said.
As of last Thursday, government figures show 169 people have been brought to Australia from offshore locations under the medevac laws.
An asylum seeker on Manus Island, before the facilities closed. Source: AAP
Analysis by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre found 86 per cent of transfers were approved by Mr Dutton without reference to an independent medical panel.
Additional reporting: AAP
