Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

After six years of cuts and chaos, the Liberal-National Party government continues to neglect Australian's migrant and multicultural communities, and the budget has delivered a con job to those people hoping to contribute to our society and call Australia home. There's nothing in the budget to improve visa processing times, and the Liberals and Nationals still want to privatise Australia's visa processing system, putting at risk 3,000 Australian jobs, putting at risk our national security and putting at risk the privacy of people. Longer visa processing times mean that people are waiting longer to be reunited with family members. People are putting their lives on hold until they can finally settle in Australia. Processing times for partner visas are now at a record 28 months, and there are nearly 200,000 people on bridging visas waiting to have their applications processed. In addition to that, an incredible 81,000 asylum seekers have arrived by plane since 1 July 2014 under the Liberals and Nationals, including the time when the current Prime Minister was immigration minister. This is not good enough.

House adjourned at 20:00

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