Refugees

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.

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, $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.

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 Biloela Murugappan family after 4 years of fear and uncertainty under the former government.

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.

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.