Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today we delivered on our commitment to provide permanent protection to those who are on temporary protection visas and safe haven enterprise visas, exactly as we said we would. This will affect people who have lived under a shadow of uncertainty for too long and unnecessarily. The lives of 19,000 people already living in our community will change for the better. These people deserve the opportunity to participate in all aspects of Australian life and the Australian economy—and now they will. They can gain secure employment, grow businesses, more easily study, sponsor eligible family members to Australia and benefit from a pathway to Australian citizenship. This makes our community, our economy and our nation stronger.

I received these words from an Iranian refugee named Arian. Arian has been in Australia since 2012 and runs a small business. He volunteers for an amazing organisation called Welcoming Australia, helping other refugee and migrant families. He said:

It's hard to put into words what this means.

We came to Australia with so much hope for a safe and bright future.

Instead, we were met with a decade of cruelty and limbo, unable to build our future here with any certainty.

This change will gift a new life to so many people in our community, the opportunity for them to start their lives again.

I'm glad we have people like Arian in our community, and I'm glad to be part of a government that has given him and his family that opportunity. Australia at its best is strong, courageous and big-hearted, and this policy strives to be just that.