Thursday, November 24, 2005
Robert Jovicic - Unlucky Bastard
I was listening to AM today as I was driving to work (as is my wont) and heard a story about a fellow called Robert Jovicic that brougth tears to my eyes.
This poor bugger was born in France to Serbian parents who moved here when he was two (he's 38 now). He's spent his entire life in Australia. He became a heroin addict and spent some time in prison for burglary.
After he did his time, our warm and fuzzy government deported him to Serbia (he was "only" a permanent resident, not a citizen), where he's never been. He doesn't speak the language, and Serbia doesn't currently acknowledge him as a citizen so he can't get work or welfare. His money has run out and now he's been sleeping outside the Australian Embassy in Belgrade, on the frickin street, because he just wants to come home.
From the transcript:
LYNN BELL [reporter]: The Immigration Department says the Former Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, used his discretion to cancel Mr Jovicic's visa and he is now permanently excluded from Australia.
In a statement, the Department says the Serbian Consulate in New South Wales issued a travel document allowing Mr Jovicic to return to Serbia and Montenegro and further, the indications are that this person can still avail himself of citizenship in Serbia and Montenegro if he wishes.
But Robert Jovicic believes that could take years, and doesn't know if he'll survive long enough to make that happen.
ROBERT JOVICIC [sounding like he's fighting back tears]: Look, you know, my hair is falling out. If I don't lay out the front of the embassy and try and get back home, I'll die here. Just on medical grounds alone. Within a short time. I don't even know if I can last the winter.
That poor bastard - imagine being forced to sleep on the street in a country where you're entitled to nothing and can't speak the language.
I am ashamed to be Australian.
This poor bugger was born in France to Serbian parents who moved here when he was two (he's 38 now). He's spent his entire life in Australia. He became a heroin addict and spent some time in prison for burglary.
After he did his time, our warm and fuzzy government deported him to Serbia (he was "only" a permanent resident, not a citizen), where he's never been. He doesn't speak the language, and Serbia doesn't currently acknowledge him as a citizen so he can't get work or welfare. His money has run out and now he's been sleeping outside the Australian Embassy in Belgrade, on the frickin street, because he just wants to come home.
From the transcript:
LYNN BELL [reporter]: The Immigration Department says the Former Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, used his discretion to cancel Mr Jovicic's visa and he is now permanently excluded from Australia.
In a statement, the Department says the Serbian Consulate in New South Wales issued a travel document allowing Mr Jovicic to return to Serbia and Montenegro and further, the indications are that this person can still avail himself of citizenship in Serbia and Montenegro if he wishes.
But Robert Jovicic believes that could take years, and doesn't know if he'll survive long enough to make that happen.
ROBERT JOVICIC [sounding like he's fighting back tears]: Look, you know, my hair is falling out. If I don't lay out the front of the embassy and try and get back home, I'll die here. Just on medical grounds alone. Within a short time. I don't even know if I can last the winter.
That poor bastard - imagine being forced to sleep on the street in a country where you're entitled to nothing and can't speak the language.
I am ashamed to be Australian.
// posted by Cass @ 12:13 AM 
Comments:
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Yeah, I'm pretty incensed about this. Another classic Ruddock decision. Oh, he'll take meetings from licenced agents pleading on behalf of someone's saintly mother in exchange for 'dinner plate donations' to his party. But he won't think twice about booting some poor ex junkie across the world to a country he knows only by name and the fact his parents once came from there.
Unbelievable.
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Unbelievable.
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