David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the minister for immigration, Minister Watt. Many would have seen the hundreds of people gathered out the front of Parliament House rallying against the government's failure to take action so far to address the truly heartbreaking plight of people languishing on bridging visas. In the gallery is Zahra, who I sat down with this morning to hear her story. Zahra is a refugee from Iran who was part of the first family sent to Nauru last time Labor was in government. Last year Zahra's eldest daughter, Sahar, finished school and won a scholarship to study at Newcastle University. She started studying this year, but after seven weeks the government took her study rights away and she had to leave because she turned 18 and was on a bridging visa. Minister, why won't the government let Sahar follow her dream to become a human rights lawyer and complete her studies?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to 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.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Pocock, a first supplementary question.

David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Given that these families have been living with so much uncertainty for so long, are you able to inform the Senate and Sahar when people like her, who have been living in our community, working and paying taxes, will finally have their migration status resolved? What is the time line?

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

The P:

Senator Pocock, a second supplementary question.

David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Apart from pointing to the backlog, what is the reason that the government has taken six months to put forward some clarity on an election commitment?

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

I do understand that for people who are waiting for visa applications to be processed, that is a really difficult situation for people to be in. As I say, as well as impacting on those people who are waiting for those applications to be processed, it's impacting on employers all around the country, who are desperate to get workers who have been waiting for their visas to be processed for a very long time. For all the complaints we hear from people on the other side about what needs to be done to assist regional employers to get the workers they need, they did nothing about the visa backlog. It's also, of course, impacting on the very people that you're asking about.

At the Jobs and Skills Summit, we committed to put on about, I think, 500 extra immigration staff to help clear that backlog, in addition to the work that had already been done. Because of that, we've now been able to bring that backlog down to 800-odd thousand from the nearly one million we inherited. It's still too long. We're still putting in more resources. Hopefully, that will make a difference to the people you're asking questions about.