http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.a...003426,00.html

The federal government is stepping up screening to prevent diseases being carried into Australia by African refugees, Health Minister Tony Abbott says.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma has accused the federal government of dumping vulnerable immigrants on the state without providing proper medical checks and treatment to protect them and the community.

Mr Iemma said the increase in asylum seekers arriving from African countries such as Sudan was posing a range of complex problems never before encountered by the state's health system.

But Mr Abbott today rejected reports that only 40 per cent of African refugees who came into NSW had been screened.

He said the federal government knew in the middle of last year that African refugees posed a health risk.

"Since then, in addition to the standard health checks that all refugees undergo, there is now an additional pre-departure check for up to 50 per cent of African refugees," Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney.

By the middle of this year, he said all African refugees would have a pre-departure check in addition to the initial health screening.

"There are some problems here, no doubt about it," Mr Abbott said.

"I'm not saying that we aren't getting some people coming into Australia with fairly exotic diseases.

"But the federal government has been on to this ... and we are ramping up our efforts to try and ensure that the Australian public is as fully protected as possible."

Mr Abbott said he had received two letters from the NSW government concerning the screening of African refugees.

The first praised the Commonwealth for its efforts combating the spread of disease, he said.

The second, sent a day before damming revelations hit the media, lambasted the federal government for not doing more.

"A day before he (the NSW Health Minister John Hatzistergos) went public on this, I got another letter basically saying the Commonwealth wasn't doing enough," he said.

"What you are seeing (there) really smacks of a political stunt."

I personally believe that every country has a right to carry out medical checks on all new entrants. It helps refugees to get medical help sooner and protects the country from health service problems as they know how many people have what. Apparently the Australian govenment checked Asians for SARS and spray all incoming planes so they have a history of this type of thing. I know many people are going shout racism but I would support this whatever country did it. Every country has enough sick people already.

Further proof if any more was needed that the words Australia and racist *******s belong in the same sentence.