Former immigration minister Alex Hawke calls for action on bridging visa backlog with thousands left in limbo

Australia Broadcast Center

2 days ago

Rathy Barthlote and her family are caught up in a tricky situation.
Her 11-year-old daughter Lolitta, born in Australia, became a citizen with full rights at the age of 10.
But Ms Barthlote, her husband and 16-year-old daughter Logitha are all asylum seekers with few rights. They've been living in Australia since 2014 while their refugee claims go through the system.
"Their friendships, schooling and sense of belonging are all here," Ms Barthlote said.
"One child has everything, the other child is worried about her future."
Ms Barthlote said the prospect of deportation remained a daily fear for the family.
"My older daughter has occasionally asked whether she would be separated from her younger sibling," she said.
Soon after Ms Barthlote and her family came to Australia by boat in 2013, the then-Abbott government introduced the so-called 'Fast Track' system to process the claims of boat arrivals.
This system limited their procedural rights compared to other asylum seekers. Labor criticised the system, labelling it unfair and when it came to power, abolished it.
But the Albanese government didn't solve the problems the Fast track system created.
Ms Barthlote is one of around 8,000 asylum seekers who arrived between 2012 and 2013 and whose claims the system rejected.
Many asylum seekers are still appealing those decisions, arguing the process was unfair.
Most live on bridging visas, and while some like Ms Barthlote and her family have work and school rights, others don't.
Now, former Coalition immigration minister Alex Hawke is calling on the government to resolve their status.
"People have been here a long time. And the reality of their condition is that they will be staying here," Mr Hawke said.
"We now have to deal with the actual reality of the situation."
While the previous Coalition government did not solve the issue when it was in power, Mr Hawke is now saying he supports action.
"It's time the Labor Party committed to resolving the issues. Some of those are tricky, but a lot of them are now no longer tricky," Mr Hawke said.
Perhaps the most high-profile member of this group is Priya Nadesalingam, the Tamil asylum seeker whose cause was championed by the Queensland town of Biloela.
Ms Barthlote and Ms Nadesalingam arrived in Australia on the same boat in 2013.
Both are members of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority, which fought a long and bloody civil war against the majority Sinhalese. Both fled their country to live in refugee camps in India. And both had their claims for asylum knocked back under the Fast Track system.
After a four-year community campaign, the Nadesalingams were granted the right to live here permanently. But Ms Barthlote and thousands of others still face great uncertainty.
Ms Barthlote's case has been working its way through the system for more than a decade.
When her first claim for refugee status was rejected by the Fast Track system's Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA), she appealed that decision and won.
The court sent her case back to be reassessed by the IAA which again rejected it. Ms Barthlote appealed this decision in mid-2019 and six years on, she's still waiting for a hearing.
While they wait for a resolution, Ms Barthlote and her husband Barthlote Selvaraja have built a life in Melbourne's western suburbs.
Her frustration with being left in limbo has led her to campaign publicly about the situation she and thousands of others find themselves in.
Ms Barthlote has been employed for a number of years in aged and disability care and and works part-time at a union. Her husband holds down two jobs, as a forklift driver and as a worker in aged care.
Logitha is in Year 11 and wants to study forensic science at university but Ms Barthlote fears they won't be able to afford the fees.
If Logitha is still on a bridging visa in two years, she will have to enrol in university as a foreign student, and won't be able to access the student loans scheme, HECS.
"She wants to have a dream but she can't get that dream," Ms Barthlote said.
In contrast, Logitha's younger sister Lolitta will be able to enrol in university as a local student.
There are other differences. Unlike her sister, it's difficult for Logitha to leave the country, as she doesn't have a passport. She doesn't have automatic access to Medicare but must reapply every year. Logitha won't be able to vote when she turns 18 and her long-term future in Australia is uncertain.
Since coming to power in 2022, the Labor government has acted on its promise to resolve the status of about 20,000 people found to be refugees under the Fast Track system, but who were still living on temporary protection visas. That group is now on what the government calls a "permanent visa pathway".
But those working in the sector say it isn't clear how the government plans to manage this remaining cohort of 8,000.
The home affairs minister continues to use his powers of ministerial intervention to provide people in this group with a pathway to permanent residency but it is on a case-by-case basis.
Sanmati Verma, legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the criteria for these visas to be granted is largely unknown.
"There is no clear rationale or consistency as to who is afforded this treatment and who is not", Ms Verma said.
Ms Verma dubbed the current policy as "cruel", and said it divided families.
"[The government should] recognise that people who have been here for a decade or more are now part of our community, and grant them permanent visas to reflect that reality," she said.
In a statement to Australian Story, a spokesperson for the Home Affairs Department said the government was not offering permanent visas to people whose claims were rejected under the old system and which have failed on appeal.
"People … who have exhausted all avenues to remain in Australia are expected to depart Australia voluntarily and may be provided assistance to depart," a department spokesperson said.
"Those with new, credible protection claims relating to changes in their country of origin or personal circumstances may request Ministerial Intervention."
Ms Barthlote and her family are desperate to secure a future in the country they've called home for more than a decade.
"We are part and parcel of this community. We have no home to return to in Sri Lanka," she said.