It is disgusting that the Federal Government does not revise their decision on this matter. This area has enough problems attracting doctors without this going on. So the child has a problem, that does not mean in latter years that he will not be a productive member of society. The local federal member should take a stand on this matter and advise the various Federal Government departments that their moves are unwelcome and harmful to the health of local citizens. For that matter, the local Victorian member should make the State Government aware that the Federal Government is taking doctors away. For sure it is not going to get us to vote Labour next time. Dave Gerecke

Surely our politicians ought to have the well-being of society and every individual as a prime consideration. The question must always be asked: ``What solution is for the greatest good here?'' For those concerned about truly authentic human values, the answer is very clear. If this family is not permitted to stay in Australia, well may we all weep for our country for without compassion, we are doomed as a society.

As a patient of Dr Bernhard Moeller, I wish to support the appeal for his application for permanent residency. I was unfortunate to suffer a heart attack a few years ago and since then I have a yearly check up with Mr Moeller who I have found to be a most caring and very learned man in his field. The Wimmera cannot afford to lose him - where will future patients who suffer this horrible disease finish up if there is no heart specialist on hand. Ballarat is too far away when a patient suffers a heart attack and in the past it has proved that it is so hard to attract doctors to the country towns. And as for the politics of their intellectually disabled son Lukas being `the meat in the sandwich' - that little boy didn’t ask to be born this way and children such as Lukas have very special needs and special parents. Lukas’ parents have done their utmost to provide the best life they can for him as well as their other two children. Not only heart patients need to appeal against this hideous immigration law, but the public in general, as you don’t know who will suffer the next heart attack and will need the expertise of Doctors such as Dr. Moeller. Signed Ray Duffield.

What is this Federal Governernment on about? Here we have a specialist doctor who wants to come to a rural area and be a member of the community and he is hamstrung by government red tape. All people in this area should make themselves heard and make a stand to keep Dr Moeller in the Wimmera. We cannot afford to lose him. Our local state and federal members should make very loud noises to people who count to overturn this ridiculous state of affairs.

Pauline and John Taylor

This is ridiculous and discriminatory. I would support any petition or action possible to keep a doctor who is in great need in Australia.

Watched this like most Australian on the news this morning and I find this embarrassing. How can our government treat this family in such a disgraceful way. Happy to support any petition to have this decision reversed. Rudd Govt should apologise to the Moellers.

Despite living & working in the metropolitan area I find the decision to refuse Dr. Moeller permenant residency both offensive and narrow minded. The governement's immigration policy allows, even encourages, unskilled migrants to enter Australia & take up permenant residency, yet this man provides an essential service to a community in need * is denied the same privilege because his son has a medical condition. Simply outrageous. It would be interesting to know how many immigrants from other parts of the world bring medical conditions with them that require treatment. Ironically, treatment they may receive from Dr. Moeller. Some migrants enter Australia & have a deleterious impact on society through the commission of criminal acts & anti-social behaviour, yet Dr Moeller arrives here to make a significant & positive contribution to his community & with his family yet may be forced to return to Germany. Show Dr.Moeller & his family what the Australian spirit is all about & help restore his faith in the reasons he made the decision to come here in the first place.

Essentially the government is saying that a person's worth to our society is only judged based on their future medical costs? And of course, they are able to predict for everyone entering this country what that cost will be - well that is rather clever of them. On one hand it seems that it is OK for the taxpayers to spend millions on local and international aid - as this is helping people - an on the other hand people are valuable to our society as long as they don't cost us much? Because imparting of human values does count - heard of compassion? Obviously not. I hope that someone sees the 'light' in this case. My best wishes for the family and the community.

If you are going to use cold-hearted logic then you would have to calculate that because a doctor actually saves people (or 'taxpayers') there is very good chance of a net gain in Federal income, more than offsetting any treatment costs that their child might / might not need in the future.

This is flat out disgusting and offends me in a variety of ways... People are worth more than a balance sheet of potential costs. And I guarantee that this doctor gives more than his fair share in real dollar value back to the community. Where did that value sit in the excel spreadsheet they use to determine someone's worth? We live in a society, not an economy. And the hypocrisy is nauseating. How can we BEG doctors to come out here and help our rural communities, and then refuse to let them stay and continue their work? Discrimination makes me rather angry as well, I can't stand to see or hear it on the train or in a newspaper, but to see it carried out at this level is terrifying. To deny him and his family residency because of his son's disability is discrimination perpetrated by the government (or government body), and it CANNOT be justified by potential costs that Lukas' condition MAY be responsible for in the future. And how great a leap is it to deny residency based on race, sex or age? I'm sure there are statistics (accurate or otherwise) that indicate that people of certain races are more prone to certain diseases, etc. Are we going to deny, let's say, British people residency? Because they may be more prone to skin cancer under our porous ozone layer? My partner is German, and worked really hard to jump through the hoops necessary to get her visa, and to think her permanent residency could be denied if someone decides that she's any kind of drain on taxpayers? You can't measure the value that a person has as a citizen with a number or a dollar sign. Add to that that my sister has a disability, and I have lived and worked with her, and people like Lukas all my life. I find it sickening that people with disabilities are being reduced to a deficit in someone's 'worth' or 'value' to the country, BY OUR GOVERNMENT. I hope this decision gets turned around, and I also hope that this case throws a spotlight on the department responsible, forcing them to clean up their act and start treating people as people.