Australians love who they love.
And, it has always been part of modern Australia
that people fall in love, marry people from
overseas and build a life here.
Yet right now, as we debate this motion, the
lives of nearly 100,000 Australians are in
limbo, desperately waiting for years for this
miserable government to grant their partner
visas.
Australian couples are suffering, separated
for years and hearts pining.
Relationships are now stressed or broken as
waiting times continue to increase.
Desperate cries for help about partner visa
delays are now one of the most common things
that come to my office, and every single member
of this House would have hundreds, sometimes
thousands of, constituents with similar trauma.
It used to take six months or maybe a year—that
was normal.
But after seven years of this mean, miserable
Liberal government, waiting times are drifting
past two years and just keep rising.
Perhaps worse, though, than the time it takes
is the complete uncertainty and fear.
Australians now cannot plan their lives.
Do they buy a house?
Sell a house?
Do they start a family?
Will they ever get a visa?
They click refresh on the website, watching
these estimated wait times rise and rise,
getting little to no information about their
application from that black hole, that vortex,
which is the Department of Home Affairs.
Many people are terrified to speak up, thinking
this may harm their chances.
In truth, I found this helps people, as the
government now is so desperate to stop the
public criticism it was caught only two weeks
ago fast tracking visas to people who went
to the media in desperation.
People who had waited years suddenly got their
visa in 12 hours!
It's an outrageous abuse of process and a
corruption of public administration.
These delays are not due to a lack of resources.
The visas are expensive—they're nearly $8,000—plus
thousands more for health checks, security
checks and agent fees.
No, the growing delays are the result of deliberate—and
I believe illegal—government policy.
From the moment the government was elected
and the now Prime Minister became immigration
minister, a hard cap was placed on the number
of partner visas issued every year.
Two years ago he cut the number of visas every
year, so now waiting times just rise even
faster.
'Illegal' is a pretty strong word to throw
at a minister, but it's true.
Under the Migration Act, the minister has
the power to cap and queue the number of visas
issued each year for most visa classes.
But spouse, partner and dependent child visas
are different.
Section 87 of the act explicitly states that
the minister cannot cap those visas.
They're supposed to be demand driven, acknowledging
the reasonable right of Australians to fall
in love and build a life with their partner
here.
The Hawke and Howard governments tried to
pass legislation to give the minister the
power to cap these visas, but both times this
was rejected by the Senate.
The government know that what they're doing
is not just cruel it is a legal.
They have legal advice which they refuse to
release, but we saw with documents released
under freedom of information a Yes Minister-style
attempt in 2016 to explain that a planning
level is not a cap—it's just a cap!
Yet only under this government has this hard
annual limit been locked in, in a flat line.
It's a cap.
Some of the saddest situations are those people
who have been granted a prospective marriage
visa, having paid $10,000 to $20,000 and waited
for years yet the government will not let
their fiance come to Australia now.
The clock is ticking for these couples as
their visas expire.
The irony was the acting minister last week,
speaking about keeping Australians together
when he's keeping couples apart.
And disgracefully the government will not
refund their money or extend their visa.
They're ripping off Australians in their own
state-sponsored immigration racket.
Are they seriously asking Australians to fork
out another $10,000 to $20,000 and wait another
two to three years in the hope that next time
they might get lucky?
We're a better, fairer country than this.
Australians deserve to be treated better by
this government.
The issue is not just going to go away, no
matter how much the government members may
wish it.
The numbers will just keep rising.
That's their policy, and there are angry Australians
in every electorate in this country.
They are now getting organised, thanks in
large part to the wonderful Amelia Elliott
from the Deakin electorate.
She can't get a call back from her local MP—although
she told me she watched 60 Minutes and figured
out why.
But, on behalf of all those Australians, I
urge, I demand, government MPs to stop, to
put down the partisan cudgels and talking
points and ask themselves:
How would you feel if this was you?
How would you feel if this was your child?
Is this right?
Is it fair?
Is it just to treat Australians in this way?
And if the quiet voice inside says, 'No,'
then do something—speak to the minister,
do it quietly, do loudly, do it in your party
room.
But let's work together to force change and
fix this mess.
Let these prospective marriage visa holders
come to Australia for their wedding.
Clear the backlog of partner visas, and let
Australians who are in love be reunited with
their partners.
It's not too much to ask.
