By Sahar Foladi
Following the 2022-23 Federal Budget, many organisations such as Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) have been left disappointed.
Organisations such as ASRC which advocates for policy reform for asylum seekers, believes the Albanese Government has failed to live up to the expectations.
The Budget has targeted a wide variety of issues Australians have faced. These include cost of living relief, modern economy and budget repair.
However, the Budget does not address Labor’s election promise to end Temporary Protection Visas (TPV) or the Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (SHEV) and increase in Australia’s humanitarian intake.
Former Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, Sajjad Askary who is a Human Rights advocate and a Juris Doctor student, said: “No doubt, the Albanese Government is a lot better than the Liberals, and we hope that the policy changes will reflect that.
“The Albanese government has told the community to wait for the formal announcement, which should come by the end of this calendar year as the new government navigates through the challenges to reach what, no doubt, will be a significant move.”
Bruce MP Julian Hill said the critical first step is to employ more staff to process visas – backed by $36.1 million in this Budget.
“The visa and migration system inherited from the Liberals is a broken mess. We have already announced 500 additional staff for the Department to work through the awful backlog of visas from the Liberals.
“Personally I will be pushing for greater accommodation of Afghans including Hazaras being persecuted, but the first step is not academic arguments about places, it’s getting more staff to be able to process visas.
“The Liberals kept making announcements but never actually delivered and just cut staff and Labor is fixing their mess.”
However, ASRC has called on the Albanese Government to meet its election promise.
“This budget is a tale of two Australians,” ASRC chief executive Kon Karapanagiotidis said.
“One where there is hope of recovery and a better future with billions rightly being spent to help people in need, and another where more than half a billion is being spent to harm people who turned to us for help, safety and protection.”
The TPV leaves those who are qualified for protection in limbo, human rights activists say.
World Hazara Council spokesperson, Sitarah Mohammadi has faith in the Labor Government as she believes people on these visas have no need to be fearful and that the huge backlog and new challenges faced by the Government are slowing down the process to meet their needs.
“I know it’s a very difficult time a very uncertain time that the people are in but we just have to remain hopeful and wait until we get that formal announcement from the government,” Ms Mohammadi said.
“The people who have been on TPVs or SHEVs have been waiting for that certainty that the Labor government promised prior to the election, but we also have to keep in mind that there are a lot of complexity and challenges that this new government is also facing.
“Hopefully, the community will receive some positive news soon.”
Mr Hill said all the commitments will be made.
“It is legally and administratively complex and consultation is occurring with legal and migration experts to get the detail right.
“That timing is not dependent on the Budget and I am pushing Ministers to finalise and announce the transition as soon as possible.”
Mr Hill said the Labor Government was committed to increase the humanitarian intake to 27,000.
“Labor Government is committed to set up a community sponsorship program modelled on the successful Canadian version, with 5,000 places in addition to the refugee intake.”
La Trobe Liberal MP Jason Wood said: “If it can be fast tracked, I think that’s a really good thing, let’s get things moving.”
Mr Wood said an upcoming bipartisan parliamentary inquiry committee which he is part of, will discuss these issues and the major concern for him and the Shadow Minister is the processing time.
