Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Hansard source

The member opposite is getting very agitated, but he knows full well about subclass 204 visa, known as the ‘women at risk’ category. It is a visa for women and young girls who are at risk and who are of great concern to the UNHCR. Those concerns are well founded, with many of these women and young girls at risk from sexual and physical abuse, victimisation, harassment and human trafficking.

A fact that our Prime Minister ought to understand is that there are women around the world who are facing undue persecution and require humanitarian assistance. The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, says that violence against women is the most common but the least punished crime in the world. There are two terrible realisations: first, that women and girls around the world are not receiving the protection that they need; and, second, that here in Australia we can do nothing about it because of the historic level of irregular maritime arrivals caused by the Labor government’s failed policies. The increase in the numbers of onshore applicants to be processed has flowed over to negatively impact on our special humanitarian intake and it prevents women suffering starvation, rape and violence in so-called ‘safe’ camps from being able to apply.

Under the current circumstances, if all or a majority of the 7,750 humanitarian visas are allocated to onshore applicants or their families, too bad if you try to apply offshore because you will be put in the queue; too bad if you are a young woman being trafficked around the world in the sex trade; too bad if you are suffering persecution because you are a woman and you cannot leave your country; too bad if your life is being threatened and you require urgent resettlement, because this Labor government officially has no control over this country’s immigration policy. ‘If you do not come by boat, then you will not be considered’ is the message that this government is sending to refugees, and that is the message that will only make a bad problem worse.

There are genuine refugees who non-government organisations and groups write to me about every day. They are in camps and tent cities, and they deserve to come to Australia. This matter of public importance will ensure that they have the opportunity and the fairness of treatment that they deserve. At the last election the coalition put forward a policy of 1,500 offshore Special Humanitarian Program entrants to be sponsored by church and NGO groups. For example, the Salvation Army, from whom I have received a letter—and I am sure honourable members would have received one recently too—at Hobsons Bay at Altona wrote about this particular issue. They say that Australia has a moral obligation to Australian citizens whose families are being tortured and abused in totalitarian regimes. That is why SHP was designed, with the costs minimised because sponsors are responsible for the cost of travel.

Now we have been told that asylum seekers have basically used all of the visas from the SHP pool and only split families will be given a real chance of receiving a visa. The families that we are assisting have put their applications through the correct channels. They have not sought out people smugglers, but now they are told that they do not have a real chance of obtaining a visa. That is what is happening under this government’s failed immigration policy. People offshore are not being treated fairly. There are some who have called for an increase in the SHP quota as a way to rectify the situation. This is a very short-sighted approach.

The current level of 13,750 persons has bipartisan support. The approach to raise the quota would result in only stretching resources and having a greater impact on the budget. It would also result in the government, which is already struggling to pay its current debt, having to pay more, and that would be irresponsible. Leading organisations will also have increased numbers to deal with. We have the Red Cross, other non-government organisations and church groups already stretched to capacity being stretched even further. We have some of the best resettlement services in the world. These services provided to SHP recipients currently in Australia will be severely compromised. Humanitarian entrants generally have the highest settlement needs due to their experiences. They also have a great deal of access to many services in this country. They have been traumatised by many experiences overseas which have caused them to leave their country. An increase in demand for these services, as people are calling for, would also result in case coordination, information and referrals being scaled back.

It is important that we recognise that there are many applicants offshore who need our services. Our aim is to ensure that individuals arriving here under SHP are given every opportunity to rebuild their lives and to become fully functional members of the Australian community. Among the current humanitarian intake, most entrants have lived in unstable conditions for protracted periods of time and many have also experienced physical violence directed towards themselves or their families. They deserve our support and assistance.

I know that the current settlement services are all working well to ensure resettlement and integration because I speak to many groups. I recently attended an event with the Sudanese community in Brisbane. I was privileged to speak to many members of the community and some who have settled here under the Special Humanitarian Program. They spoke of their wonderful, positive experiences in being settled here. They were grateful for the settlement services that they encountered and they pointed out to me that some of the basic support services that they had received on arrival had helped them with technology, life skills, household and workplace appliances and the many values and practices of the Australian way of life. Now they have jobs as a result of our settlement services. This is the type of positive outcome that would be endangered if we overload our current settlement services. Offshore applicants need to be treated with respect and they need to be welcomed, not scaled back because of this government’s failed immigration policies.

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