Australian immigration minister asked to halt deportation of six-year-old girl with mystery illness

Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton on Tuesday was asked to prevent a family being forced out of Australia because their six-year-old daughter has an unidentified illness.

The child's parents recently received their permanent residency status after emigrating from England when their daughter was just 10-months old, however a mystery ailment affecting her speech and balance saw her residency application refused.

"It's one thing (having) to learn to come to terms with when you find out your daughter has got a disability, I mean it's a gut-wrenching feeling," the child's father Kai Tippett told Australia's national broadcaster.

"But then you find out she's not welcome in the country she calls home, because of her disability... we were just devastated."

It's believed that Australia's immigration department is assessing a request for ministerial intervention, however a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said he was yet to be given details of the case.

Australian immigration authorities reject applications for permanent residency and citizenship if the applicant has a medical condition that could be deemed a future burden on the country's public health system.

However, migration lawyer Nathan Wills said an arbitrary application of the law would make the situation more difficult as it doesn't take into account that "life is not always black and white."

"This would seem to be to be one of those sorts of situations where the minister should intervene for the sake of ensuring a just outcome for some people who have already got a pretty difficult situation," Wills said.

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