Tuesday, 30 July 2024

Tourist visas

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (18:07): (1003) My adjournment matter is directed towards the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. Given that we have got a new federal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, after the last one was shuffled out, I am hoping we will get a new approach. So I seek the action of the minister to contact the new federal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Mr Burke advocating on behalf of Victoria to address the growing number of tourist visa refusals.

The refusal of short-term tourist visa applications has an enormous impact on communities and migrant communities in my electorate of Northern Metropolitan Region who would like to have family members and friends come to visit them even just for a few weeks. This has been a massive issue for my Indian community in the northern suburbs. It is flat-out discrimination against the Indian community; that is what it is. I have had countless members of my community reach out and tell me that their siblings have been knocked back for two-week visa applications for birthdays; that their mothers, wanting to visit for a couple of weeks upon the birth of a new grandchild, have been knocked back; and that family members have even been refused visas to come over and attend funerals. That is what we see being done to the Indian community here in Victoria.

Recently a local resident shared a story that resonated with me. Her elderly parents applied for a short-term visa to visit and support their daughter upon the birth of their first grandchild. Despite all their efforts in providing assurances of their return, their visa application was knocked back for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and of course that caused much emotional distress not only for their immediate family but their broader family and the community as well. How can you do this to a young family? These refusals are having a profound negative impact on my community in the northern suburbs. One example is Kali Mata Mandir, a Hindu temple in Craigieburn, which has been having countless issues just getting singers to visit their temple from India. We know that they have had previous singers. In fact I was there last month with my colleague Mr Welch in front of 3000 people where they had singers that came out and then returned to India, but now they are just being flat-out refused. This is ridiculous. The minister does need to intervene and needs to speak to the federal minister on behalf of Victoria so that we can sing with one voice and say ‘This has got to stop.’ It is flat-out discrimination against the Indian community, and they should be able to have family come over to visit.