Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was very lucky to welcome a delegation of Cambodian community and religious leaders to parliament earlier this week. They represent some of the 3,000 or 4,000 Cambodian and Khmer speaking people I represent in Hotham. I am also lucky to represent three Cambodian Buddhist temples in Hotham—the Watt Buddharangsi, the Khmer Buddhist Centre and the Dhamaram Buddhist Temple. All these three temples sponsor Cambodian Buddhist monks to come and live in Australia. Those monks are absolutely core to the religious and spiritual life of the Cambodian people that I represent. They lead prayer and worship, and they commemorate births, deaths, marriages, illness and other critical life events.

Immigration changes that were made in 2015 now require monks to travel to Australia under a labour agreement scheme. Previously, they were able to come under a specified religious leaders visa. Under this new scheme it is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Some examples of why this is not a good fit: under these laws the monks must be shown to have a labour agreement and be paid commensurate with people in Australia who are doing similar work, yet that sort of payment is against Buddhist teachings; only one monk per temple can be sponsored, when in fact we need multiple monks at each of these ceremonies; and language requirements are a problem, remembering that this services a mainly Khmer speaking community. So I would like to ask the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to consider the special needs of Cambodian Australians so we can ensure that Buddhist monks can continue to provide this critical service and care to the community I represent.