Gabriel Ng (Menzies, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the minister for immigration. Can the minister provide clarity about the arrival control determination regarding Iranian visitor visas. Who is affected and who is not affected, and who will be shown compassion in sympathetic cases?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Menzies for the question. I want to acknowledge the extraordinary work he's been doing with the Iranian-Australian community in his electorate and acknowledge the consultation that both the assistant minister for multicultural affairs and the assistant minister for immigration have been doing, as well as myself, with the community in the lead-up to making the determination, which I signed off on yesterday.

It's very important for us to understand what this determination is, who it affects, who it doesn't, and why the government has put it in place. It is always the case, when temporary visas are issued, that one of the things that my officials weigh up is how likely is it that someone will seek to continue to stay beyond the length of the visa. What that means is when you get a sudden conflict like has happened with Iran, you have a large number of people who've been issued visas who, if they applied now, would in fact not be eligible for those visas. And until these determinations were possible, we could only go through that case by case.

This is the first time that I know of, for a long time, where the number of visas that were already issued was as large as this, in the order of more than 7,000 temporary visas that had already been issued. All of them were issued properly, but in a circumstance which no longer applied. The government has a very clear view that decisions about permanent stays in Australia should be a deliberate decision of the government, not a random consequence of who was planning to book a holiday here.

In terms of who was affected, the order only applies to people with visitor visas. We have not applied it to any other form of temporary visa. It does not apply to the spouse, de facto partner or dependent child of an Australian citizen. It does not apply to somebody who holds a permanent visa. It does not apply to anybody who is already here. It does not apply to the parent of a child who is under 18 and in Australia. It doesn't apply to somebody who has what we call a permitted travel certificate. Now these travel certificates—because there will be members of parliament who are approached and asked to bring these cases forward—I just want to explain what they are. The department is still able, where there are compelling circumstances, to say that individuals should be able to come on the visitor visa, but those decisions are made case by case by the department. I have directed the department, as a result of the consultation that I referred to before, including some specific advocacy that came from the member for Menzies, the member for Deakin and the member for Bennelong, to specifically ask my officials to show sympathetic consideration for any cases that involve the parents of Australian citizens, regardless of the age of the Australian citizens. Obviously, the compassionate circumstances will be broader than that. But it's just very important. I am grateful for the chance—for the member for Menzies—to explain who it applies to, who it doesn't and what the pathway is for sympathetic consideration.