Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021. I want to acknowledge the celebration this weekend of the Holi festival—'the festival of colours', as it's widely known. It's an ancient Hindu festival also known as 'the festival of spring' or 'the festival of love'. It originated in India but is now celebrated across much of Asia and the Western world because of the fast-growing and vibrant Indian diaspora communities across so much of the world. It's a festival celebrated now by over a billion people worldwide—'the festival of lights'—including many hundreds of thousands of Australians of Indian origin. It's about the triumph of good over evil. Of course the most widely known part of Holi is where people smear each other with colour and drench each other with water. It's enormously good fun, I must say.

I'm proud to represent a vibrant and fast-growing Indian diaspora community in the electorate of Bruce. Unfortunately, I fear that again this year COVID restrictions will limit and curtail somewhat the celebration of the Holi festival in my community and in many parts of Australia. I say to any Australian who hasn't experienced the Holi festival: whenever you can, whenever you have the opportunity, go and experience it. The community are so welcoming in talking to you about their traditions. I would also say: wear some old clothes or an old suit. That is a good tip! Do have some fun but also reflect on the message of Holi—'good over evil'. It's an opportunity to rid yourself of past errors, to forgive others and to end conflicts—be they in your family, community or workplace, or wherever—and to spread positivity around you. I wish everyone celebrating Holi a happy Holi, and I thank the Australian Indian community for their contribution to modern Australia. You enrich our community and participate in every aspect of Australian life while continuing to share your culture and traditions with your children and the broader community.

I have spoken before about the mess the Liberal government has made of partner visas in this country. We have had nearly 100,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents desperately waiting for years for a visa for their partner, their husband, their wife, their fiancee, their spouse, their loved one. To fall in love with people from overseas is quintessentially Australian. It's been part of modern Australia for decades. It should be no surprise to even this government that, as the population grows and we see more migration, we see young Australians travelling the world and living overseas in their formative years. They meet people and fall in love and want to come back here and build a life. We see the government blaming COVID for why people are waiting so long. That's an excuse. This mess has been years in the making. When Labor left office, it took six to nine months on average to get a visa for your partner, your loved one. Under this government, it has blown out to close to two years. In many cases, people are waiting years and, for certain categories, now there is no hope in sight. The government has taken the waiting times off the list. Just pay your $8,000 or $15,000 or whatever it costs you, good luck.

The government say they put caps and cut the number of visas they issue each year. The caps are illegal; they contravene the Migration Act. The minister has no power to impose caps over partner visas and child visas. They have cut the number of visas they are issuing each year in a naked, blatantly political little sop to Pauline Hanson to say, 'Oh, we have cut migration.' They haven't cut migration; they have just cut the number of permanent visas they issue while temporary migration has blown out. So many of these partners come here and wait on visitor visas for years. They haven't cut the number of people in Australia. They haven't busted congestion. They have just broken up the relationships and the love of Australians and made people miserable waiting, unable to start their lives.

Even this government detected the rising anger and said in the budget they were going to issue more partner visas, increase the number of places. That's a good thing. We don't know how many places though. We don't know how they are going. Are they on track? A few people lucky enough to be onshore might have their visa granted because of the campaign that we ran, that I supported and that the government finally caved in to, to let these visas be granted. But there are a lot of unlucky people. There are people who live in the city whose love apparently is not worth the same as someone living in the regions. They are being discriminated against by this government.

If you fall in love with someone from Africa or the Middle East, you are not going to get a visitor visa to come here under this government, so don't fall in love with people from those countries. You had better fall in love with someone from a nice white English-speaking country then you can get a visa to come here and wait. For everyone else, you are in the far queue waiting an indefinite amount of time; they have taken the time off the website.

I just want to make a few brief remarks about another unlucky category of people. People who applied for the 300 prospective marriage visa are often the fiancees of Australians. Even if they have the visa issued, have paid their $8,000 and have waited years, they are not getting travel authorisations to come here. There's enormous sadness and anger amongst Australians that they are being discriminated against because of the visa which their partner applied for. These visa holders have already proved the genuineness of their relationship to the department. They are only a wedding certificate away from being called 'spouse' but they are not allowed to come here and have the wedding. It's a chicken-and-egg problem. For the travel exemption, people have to prove they have this de facto status, which means living together for at least a year or more. In real life, it is often impossible for couples to physically live together in the same house for a year, either because they are having long-distance relationships for years or they might have children from previous marriages or be moving from country to country. They might have family commitments. They might not want to physically live together until their kids are grown up or for religious and cultural reasons. In many cultures, it is normal for people to not physically cohabitate together even though the relationship is genuine and may have been continuing for years. People go off and do PhDs and maintain their relationships. These are legitimate reasons and real relationships. Fiancees are family too yet thousands of Australian couples have been separated for years with no hope in sight. The government is letting business and investment visa holders get automatic travel exemptions.

It's also an issue for fertility. We have a falling fertility rate and—I can tell you—the saddest people to talk to in this situation are people whose biological clocking is ticking. This is not hyperbole. I've sent letters to the immigration department with IVF letters attached saying, 'This woman is 41. The only opportunity she has to ever have children and start a family is to get the travel authorisation and be with her partner to start the IVF.' The government's response: nothing! The clock is ticking.

I call on the government to show some compassion and to revisit their approach to fiancees and the 300 prospective marriage visa. If you've lived together for one year and been together for one year, that's okay. But if you've been together for five years but you haven't lived together for one year then apparently that's not okay. It's discrimination.

Debate interrupted.

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