Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

In this alternative circumstance, I have a question for the Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs and member for Bruce and for the government in relation to the situation caused by these amendments to our immigration law and temporary visas. A significant number of people will be caught in transit or having already made significant arrangements in reliance upon a validly obtained visitor visa, student visa or skilled work visa. In fact, to obtain these visas, a number of Australian businesses incur considerable cost to be able to sponsor skilled visas to come and assist them with their productivity and engagement. A number of those businesses—and I meet with them regularly—go to significant expense. With the stroke of a pen, the minister and the government will now be able to say that all that expense is for nothing. I ask the government: What consideration, undertaking or assurance is the government prepared to provide businesses, individuals and families within multicultural Australia that have gone to great expense to obtain validly visitor visas, student visas or skilled visas that are now, by the stroke of a pen, going to be invalid for periods of six months essentially indefinitely? What assurance does the government make to Australian businesses to recoup that lost expense? For all of those finding themselves in transit, what assistance and compensation will the government make to those people?

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