Julian Hill MP, member for Bruce, says the government has not done enough to support couples waiting on partner visas:
Today I introduced a Private Members’ Bill into the House of Representatives that would temporarily allow the Department of Home Affairs to issue partner visas to people who are already in Australia.
The Morrison Government’s current regulations are forcing people who are already safely here in Australia to make risky and expensive trips overseas just to satisfy arbitrary visa rules.
After months of campaigning, lobbying and media coverage on this issue, Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge panicked and tried to sneak through a range of visa changes, announcing them on the Home Affairs website late on Saturday night.
His vague announcement suggests he may do something to assist thousands of visa holders at some stage next year.
Maintaining a “fly out, fly in” rule – telling people to leave Australia and return to grant their subclass 309 Partner visa – during a global pandemic is utter madness.
Particularly, when over 36,000 Australians are stranded overseas, desperate to come home, waiting for seats on planes and quarantine places.
The Liberals are wasting precious quarantine places by refusing to grant partner visas to the loved ones of Australians who are already here in Australia.
How many more quarantine places will be wasted before Christmas?
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The Minister’s failure to act immediately means that for months to come couples will still wait, unable to plan with certainty.
Australians are terrified that their loved ones face unnecessary and uncertain overseas trips, in some cases costing as much as $20,000 in flights and quarantine costs and risking COVID-19 infection as a serious second wave hits countries around the globe.
The Minister needs to reassure the thousands of partners whose visitor visas expire in the next couple of months.
They need to know what will happen to them. They need to know what steps they need to take.
Couples who have already spent tens of thousands of dollars unnecessarily on flights and quarantine will be asking why they were forced to do all this in the first place. They deserve an apology from the Morrison Government.
The Acting Minister must fix this mess now, not sometime next year.
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The Government could simply vote for my Bill this week. Or the Acting Minister can simply do his job and amend the migrations regulations today with a stroke of his pen, giving Australians and their partners certainty.
It’s way past time the Morrison Government showed some compassion and exercised common sense.
