Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For two years, Dipy Malik and her husband saved up to pay the $10,000 fee for a sponsored parent visa. It was granted on 25 January 2020, the day before Australia Day and India's Republic Day. Mr Malik's father, Shyam Lal Khatri, is 84 years old. The visa allowed him to stay in Australia for five years. As a result of the COVID-19 travel ban, Mr Khatri has been unable to travel to Australia. Yet the government won't refund the fee and won't extend the visa.

Labor recognises why the government has put the travel ban in place. Unlike the Morrison government's attack on interstate travel bans put in place by premiers, we haven't criticised the government's international travel ban. But it's not fair that thousands of people have paid for parent visas that can't be used.

If a business had promised to provide a service to customers and couldn't deliver, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission would expect them to offer a refund or a deferral. The Morrison government should hold itself to the same ethical standard that it expects of the private sector. There's one solution that's simple and fair: if someone on a sponsored parent visa cannot enter Australia due to the travel ban, then the visa should be extended by the duration of the travel ban.