Like most Australian Jewish families, my family has a refugee connection. My grandmother arrived in Australia as a refugee from Nazi Germany. My family is forever grateful to Australia for this.
As a Member of Parliament, I am committed to fighting for dignity and respect for refugees and asylum seekers.
Since coming to government, we have already achieved:
Ending Offshore detention
Under our government, the last refugees on Nauru have been resettled
Fixing our protection system
We’ve committed $160 million to restore integrity in Australia’s refugee protection system, given massive backlogs and processing delays under the former government
This includes $58 million for an additional 10 AAT members and 10 Federal judges
It also includes $54 million for the Department of Home Affairs to cut processing times and $48 million in funding for legal assistance services
We've also increased and tailored mental health support to help refugees with their often-traumatic experiences
Ending Temporary Protection
We have provided a permanent pathway for all refugees previously on Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (SHEVs) to settle in Australia - that's 20,000 people
We granted permanent visas to the Biolela Murugappan family after 4 years of fear and uncertainty under the former government
Humanitarian Intake
In 2023, we announced an increase in Australia’s humanitarian intake from 17,875 to 20,000 people per year
We have granted over 11,500 visas to Ukrainian nationals fleeing war with Russia
We have granted over 2,500 visitor visas to Palestinians and 5,400 visitor visas to Israeli citizens since the October 7 attacks
Community Resettlement
We set up the framework for 5,000 Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) places on top of our existing humanitarian intake
Australia at its best is strong, courageous, and big-hearted. I’m proud that Labor’s approach to migration strives to be just that.
