Sweeping reforms needed to address delays in family reunion
The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Albanese Government to address the root causes of systemic family visa delays and finally end the deliberate separation of refugee families, after a new report found the Department of Home Affairs failed to prevent family visa applications being stalled or delayed.
The Australian National Audit Office’s (ANAO) six-month investigation into the family migration program identified numerous delays and inconsistencies in the Department’s handling of family visa applications. It found that despite 25% of outstanding partner visa applications waiting longer than three years for a decision, the Department has no clear methods for detecting when an application has become excessively delayed or stalled. The Auditor-General’s recommendations included that the Department:
establish processes to identify and address periods of ‘processing inactivity’, where officers are taking no active steps to resolve a visa application; and
establish processes to detect and finalise applications that have been pending for prolonged periods of time.
The recommendations follow the Government’s announcement in November 2022 of additional funding to speed up visa processing. But the Human Rights Law Centre says sweeping reforms, in addition to procedural changes, are needed to remove the underlying policies and practices which cause thousands of people to be separated from their loved ones for years on end. Unrealistic visa criteria, onerous evidentiary requirements, exorbitant costs and rigid visa caps continue to cause extreme delays for some families, and put the prospect of reuniting completely out of reach for others.
These systemic barriers must be removed so that families are no longer forced apart by the migration system. Accessible family reunion pathways must be reopened through the humanitarian program. This is particularly important for the tens of thousands of people who sought protection in Australia over a decade ago, who are still waiting to reunite with their partners, children and other loved ones.
Josephine Langbien, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said:
“We welcome the Auditor-General’s recommendations and urge the Department of Home Affairs to implement them in full. But these procedural changes alone are not enough. Throwing additional funds at visa processing is not enough. The dysfunction and delays in the family migration program are a result of government laws and policies which treat family unity as a privilege, rather than a fundamental right.
“The Auditor-General’s investigation was brought about in part thanks to the efforts of Julian Hill MP, who had heard and acted on the concerns of his constituents in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. While in opposition, he and many others were committed to addressing the intolerable and indefinite separation of families. This was a driving reason behind the Albanese Government’s decision to grant permanent residency to people previously kept on temporary protection visas.
“If the Government is serious about finally allowing families to reunite, it must address the root causes of family visa delays and provide realistic pathways for people with refugee protection to bring their family members to Australia.”
Media contact:
Thomas Feng
Human Rights Law Centre
Media and Communications Manager 0431 285 275
thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au