A Town's Plea Think Again On Our Doctor Summary

The Immigration Department’s decision to reject a German doctor and his family’s application for permanent residency has sparked the debate regarding the issue of whether or not the Department of Immigration’s decision to reject Mr. Moeller and his family’s permanent residency application was appropriate. In the article, “A town’s plea: think again on our doctor”, that appeared in The Age Online on 1 November 2008, Sarah Smiles and Dewi Cooke contend in a reasonable tone that it was wrong for the Immigration department to reject the Moeller family’s permanent residency application just because of Lukas Moeller’s Down syndrome. Accompanying Smiles and Cooke’s article is a photograph by Joe Armao and a cartoon by Mark Knight which both share the same viewpoint as the written text that Dr. Moeller and his family’s permanent

Moeller gave to the Australian society. The authors’ makes a reference to John Niewand’s experience, where Dr. Moeller saves his life by detecting a cancerous kidney. By using anecdotal evidence, the writers seek to coerce the reader into believing that Dr. Moeller has done great contributions to the society, therefore the Immigration department’s decision to decline Dr. Moeller’s permanent residency application because of his son’s disability is unreasonable. Furthermore, Niewand claims, “We need those type of people in the country.” The use of inclusive language is evident when he uses the term ‘we’ and this suggests that Dr. Moeller’s presence in Australia is beneficial to readers as citizens of Australia. Therefore, the writers’ use of anecdotal evidence and inclusive language enables them to share the viewpoint with the readers especially Australian citizens that Dr. Moeller and his family should be allowed to stay in Australia