Thursday, 16 September 2021
Members statements
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
This week I wrote to the Prime Minister and immigration minister to call for much-needed action to relieve the ongoing suffering of the Afghan people. Scott Morrison’s failure to help the Afghan community, first as the immigration minister and now as Prime Minister, is needlessly costing lives every day.
Recently the Prime Minister told us, ‘We won’t be able to get everyone out’ and ‘We wish it were different’. Yet when Scott Morrison was immigration minister, he flouted his legal obligation to decide the status of refugees within 90 days. Many Afghans have been waiting for up to nine years.
Whether it is organising COVID vaccines or saving our brave Afghan allies from Taliban reprisals, the Prime Minister never thinks it’s a race. He won’t pick up the phone to Pfizer and he won’t sign applications to reunite shattered and desperate families. He won’t fly planes to evacuate our allies, but he will dodge lockdown to fly home for Father’s Day.
This Prime Minister makes a mockery of Australian values. What happened to having ‘boundless plains to share’ for ‘all who’ve come across the seas’?
I know that in my community, Afghans who came by boat are only free so long as their fleeting and fickle temporary protection visas last. Over 4500 Afghans in Australia languish in this farcical fantasy of ever-elusive freedom.
The federal government needs to dramatically increase the number of partner, humanitarian and family reunion visas. They need to increase staffing to ensure the estimated 12 000 applications made in recent weeks are dealt with now, not in 10 years.
The Afghan people deserve to feel safe, dignified and permanent in Australia.