Campaigners for a special visa for parents of migrants have lashed out the Victorian opposition leader, Matthew Guy for his comment saying “we can’t have the whole world in Australia” when asked to comment about family reunions in migrant families.
“There comes a time where with 25 million people in Australia and 40 per cent of us from overseas, we can’t accept the whole world in Australia,” Mr Guy said during an interview with SBS Punjabi.
“We have to be reasonable. I have got a family who wants to come here too. In fact, they find it very hard to get here on a holiday visa. It’s very hard to get to Australia from eastern Europe, much harder than it is to get to Australia from Asia,” he added.
“But, we have got rules and we have to make them for the right reasons.”
The federal government unveiled a temporary sponsored visa for parents that will allow them to stay in Australia for a continuous period of up to five years. This visa was promised during the election campaign for the 2016 federal election following a long campaign by migrant communities. However, it’s currently caught in legislative delays parliament.
Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy (right) enters the Liberal Party's bus in East Melbourne, Monday, October 30, 2018. Source: AAP
Adelaide-based Arvind Duggal, who started the campaign, says the federal government should come clean about the visa.
“Mr Guy is not a small functionary of the Liberal party, he will be the Premier of Victoria if his party wins. He must know a lot of migrants from his state have campaigned too for this visa that the federal Liberal government hasn’t delivered on despite making a promise over two years ago.
“Is this what the Liberal Party also believes – and whether the visa is deliberately being delayed- the federal government must answer, because it has felt like a breach of trust but now it’s becoming clearer,” Mr Duggal told SBS Punjabi.
Mr Guy made the comments during campaigning for the November 24 state election in Victoria- a state that has a growing migrant population.
Mr Duggal says it’s unfair for the Liberal leader to see parents of migrants as “some sort of a burden”.
“In most cases, these parents have been to Australia before and even with the new visa, they would be here only temporarily, contributing to the economy by way for the expenses they incur.”
Though the Department of Home Affairs recently told SBS Punjabi that it's a “top priority” for them, the legislation that the new parental visa is tied to has been in the Senate for over a year now with no specific timeframe for its availability.
