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

I represent one of the most multicultural communities in Australia, and we have benefited enormously from the many waves of refugees who have come to make their home in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. I am also very lucky to represent a very wide community of people who are passionate about refugee and asylum seeker issues. One such family who through their church provide a lot of support to refugee families have approached me about a particular example that I want to share with the parliament because I think it is a good illustration of the perverse, nonsensical outcome of government policy and the way in which not just families but we as Australians are suffering from the consequences.

The example family in question are originally from Iran. Some years ago, they became interested in the teachings of Christianity. Because of their friendships in that community, people within the family lost their jobs, and they began to be victimised, essentially, by the people around them. The family were able to escape to Malaysia in 2008, where they became fluent in English. Eventually one of the younger sons in the family was accepted to study at RMIT, and the family followed him here to Australia. The family applied for asylum in 2013, and they have spent the last 3½ years waiting, living a life in limbo, for the outcome of a decision about whether they will be allowed to stay in Australia. They have been on temporary visas and on bridging visas, and they are still unaware today as to whether they will be allowed to continue the life that they are beginning to build here.

They are a family who want to make something of their lives. They are a family who care passionately about education, and they want their two sons to pursue university studies. Those boys are desperately keen to get into a course that will help them on track to a professional life, a life that was lived by their parents, but instead they have been forced into just manual labour, trying to make ends meet, because they really have no idea as to whether they will be allowed to stay in this country. They are being held back by government policy. I believe that the length of time that the family are being made to wait is intolerable. Three and a half years is simply too long to live in limbo.

I said this matter was raised with me by a local family, and I said that through their church they support several families who are in this position. So it is not just this family. There are many around Australia who are living in these exact same circumstances. Three and a half years is an intolerable time to wait to have your future determined. I want to put on the record before this parliament that, on behalf of the people of Hotham, I do not support this approach, especially in a country like ours, where we have benefited so much—especially in the old days, where we actually had a refugee policy that was designed to help people set themselves up here, to help them learn English, to help them find a home and to help them find work. But those days are here no longer, it seems. These families have lived here for years. They feel Australian, and they want to make a contribution, but government policies are preventing it from happening. I think it is in the best interests of the country that those policies change.