Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for your question, Senator Pocock. Zahra and Sahar, welcome to the Senate. It's terrific that you've been able to join everyone here today. Our government, obviously, has put forward a range of policies for how we intend to deal with people who are on bridging visas, in addition to people who continue to be in offshore processing—particularly in Nauru.

These are very difficult issues, and I understand the difficulties that they no doubt cause to Zahra and Sahar and the rest of their family. These are issues that we are trying to balance with a range of other factors to make sure that the policies that we do ultimately bring in are enduring and can remain in place into the longer term. This does take some time, and I understand that that does leave some individuals in difficult circumstances. Again, I understand that that is not an easy situation.

Senator Pocock, as you may know, in my career before I came here I did quite a lot of legal work with refugees. I know there are other members in this chamber who have done the same thing, so I can assure you that we do understand the personal difficulties that these situations cause. We are weighing up a range of factors, and I do hope that we can come to a resolution of these issues as quickly as possible so that people like Zahra and Sahar are relieved of the burden that they're currently under.