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

Obviously, I can't give a particular time frame for particular individuals, but one of the issues that we have had to deal with since taking office is the outrageous backlog in visa applications that existed under the former government. I was shocked when we came to office that the backlog in visa applications had blown out to nearly a million in this country. That compares to a backlog of about 200,000 when we lost office in 2013. It had blown out under the former government to nearly a million, and this is affecting a range of people in our community. It is no doubt affecting Zahra and Sahar and their family. It is affecting a large number of other people on bridging visas. It's also impacting employers, including in industries like agriculture, manufacturing and many other industries, who cannot get the workers they need because the backlog is so long. We have applied increased resources to the immigration department to clear that backlog. It's now down to well below 900,000, and it's something we intend to pursue— (Time expired)