Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In all the noise of the election campaign I must have missed the Liberal Party 'stop the families' slogan. The government has quietly and stealthily stopped people in Australia from reuniting with their families.

From this week, no new applications are being received for parent, aged parent, aged dependent relative or remaining relative in care visas. This fundamentally changes the family reunion visa programs that have helped to make Australia's migration system so successful. It has been a change that has been made without any community engagement. The migrant groups in my electorate are absolutely in disbelief that this has happened.

People who have so successfully gained citizenship or permanent residency in Australia had been able to apply to bring their parents as well as other members of their extended families to join them in this great country, or to care for them here in their old age. With 37 per cent of Western Australians having been born outside Australia, our community has a lot to lose from this harsh measure.

Many recent immigrants will understandably feel that the Abbott government is against them, and this will add to the anger that has been caused by the proposed watering down of the Racial Discrimination Act. This policy decision must lead to questions concerning who has captured the immigration policy in Australia. (Time expired)