Subjects: Visa processing, 888 visa, visa backlog, parent visas, migration strategy
MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION, CITIZENSHIP AND MULTICULTURAL AFFIRS, ANDREW GILES: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining one of these regular press conferences. Again, it's particularly important to me and the Australian Government that we're able to have these conversations to speak to and listen to the questions you have on behalf of your listeners and readers. And today I want to talk a bit about where we are at in terms of the visa system, which I know is a subject of great interest to all of your publications and has been subject of many questions that I've been asked. So I just want to make some high-level observations and I'll touch on a couple of particular areas which I believe to be of interest, and then obviously we'll have the opportunity to engage in questions on these and of course on other matters too.
I'm very pleased to report to you that under the Albanese Labor Government, our visa system is in a much stronger position than it was when we came to office, a bit over a year ago. After the last election, what we saw were families who had been separated for too long and businesses crying out for workers.
Whilst there were nearly 1,000,000 visas awaiting processing in our in-tray; and of course, it was Peter Dutton himself who oversaw a slow, complicated, and fundamentally unplanned mess when it came to people entering this country. We haven't wasted a day when it comes to both cleaning up this mess and building a system that is fit for purpose in a majority migrant nation. Whether it's through slashing the visa backlog, getting wait times down, addressing workplace shortages in key sectors or reuniting families, we're trying to work through this in a methodical and responsible way, whilst keeping an eye on future reform prospects.
Now, in terms of key visa categories, I'm very pleased to report the wait times are down across all of them. For example, a temporary skilled work visa now takes 11 days to process, down from 50 days. That's 50. Student visas are now being processed in 10 days instead of 40. Initial partner visas, which I know are critically important to so many, are now being processed at a first stage for five months, which is nearly half the time it was a year or so ago. Now we know there is more to do. This work isn't finished, but the progress is something that's pleasing, but in particular healthcare and education workers are seeing visas. Applications assessed in just a couple of days, which is making sure that schools and hospitals and other facilities are being appropriately staffed and today the number for partner visas wouldn't be assessed is as slow as point in recent years, which is fundamentally important for those human connections that are such a big part of our multicultural society.
I want to touch on a couple of particular visa categories that I believe will be of interest and I want to start with the 888 visa, the permanent visa for the business, innovation and investment program, something that was completely neglected under the former government. I know this is of great interest and it's regularly raised with me and so I've recently asked the department to prioritise this group to make sure that people who have made a strong commitment to Australia are able to progress towards that permanent visa and I do expect that most of these applications will be assessed by the end of the year. Another really critical issue is the question of parent visas, and I know that many people seeking to connect with their parents are facing difficulties. I would also be clear in saying that last year we were able to deliver 8,500 parent visas compared to 4,500 in the last year of the former government. But I am aware that the wait times are very, very long, often unrealistically so, and I want to be clear also in saying that reform in this area is a priority for the government and one of the key reasons why we're focusing so hard on putting investments into the visa system and dealing with the backlog is to create space for reforms in critical areas such as this. Another one that I'm very keen on is recognising the challenges that many faith communities face in accessing faith leaders, be they a monk, an Imam or a priest to make sure that we have a system that's fit for purpose in that regard.
And more broadly, I want to tell each of you and your readers and listeners that this work in cleaning up the visa system in the short term is important in and of itself, but fundamentally it enables reform. Last year, we committed to the migration review under Martin Parkinson, which was handed to government earlier this year. That review attracted more than 480 submissions, which showed the level of interest in having a system that works in the interests of every Australian. Together with Minister O’Neil, I'm very pleased to be involved in preparing a response to this, which will shortly be handed down. In doing so, I want to emphasize how important listening to communities has been. Listening to businesses too but listening to communities as well as we work on the final strategy. I look forward to providing you with an update on this, but hopefully the work that we're doing in the visa system is something that is of interest to your readers and listeners, and I look forward to answering any questions you have on that or any other matters. Thank you very much.
JOURNALIST: Minister, there was an there was a discussion in the Australian Financial Review about Minister O’Neil blocking or your government blocking up to 200,000 tradie visas under the pressure of the unions. Do you want to comment on that because there's been such a shortage of trades and the builds have become so excessive and you might think it doesn't bleed into multicultural communities, but a lot of our readers particularly established communities very much into development and all that. So, they're all complaining about the lack of skills from overseas. Was it union pressure to stop that visa category from coming in?
MINISTER GILES: I must say I'm unfamiliar with the article in question, so I won't respond directly to that, but I will say that we are very conscious of the issue of skill shortages across skilled trades and it's something that we have been working very closely on and it is important as we do that that we get the balance right between on the one hand, recognising short term skilled shortages and the role of temporary skill shortage visas which as I said earlier are being turned around in about one fifth of the time they were under the former government whilst ensuring that these visa types do not become a replacement for a domestic training agenda. And that's why the role of Jobs and Skills Australia is fundamentally important because for too long we've had these two tracks moving in different directions. We've had workforce shortages that should be short term, are becoming endemic and denying people the opportunity to build their skills where there's huge demand. One of the big things in the housing debate that I think is broadly recognised, but perhaps not as much as it should be, is that we really do desperately need skilled trades if we're going to build the houses that we need to respond to this crisis, and that will involve, in the short term obviously temporary skill shortage visas. That's something we recognise in terms of that article, in particular I'll have a look at it and I'll get back to you with a direct response, but certainly we recognise that there are very significant skill shortages here and we see a critical role for the immigration system in meeting it.
JOURNALIST: Minister, any anticipation on the immigration review?
MINISTER GILES: You’ll get it very shortly. I can exclusively reveal that I won't be exclusively revealing any details of it in the course of this press conference, but what I am minded to do is to get Minister O’Neil to come to the first one of these press conferences after the release of the strategy which will be in the not too distant future, because I know how important it is to the people that you write for.
I think we've got Natasha next and then Flora.
JOURNALIST: I have one question, some visas applications for certain categories such as 188 or 888 visas for investment migration are still progressing slowly. What's your view on this problem?
MINISTER GILES: Thanks very much. I've touched in my opening remarks on the issue of the 888, which is the permanent a visa within that 188/888 category. We recognised that that's the category that was neglected under the former government and we've allocated additional resources to processing the 888 and my expectation is that the majority of those applications will be dealt with before the end of the year.
JOURNALIST: Minister, I have got a question for you regarding the parent visa you're talking about that it's a priority for your government and it's one of the most important issue for migrant community. My question to you is, what kind of reforms are you going to make in terms of parents visa? Will it be the processing time period reducing that or increasing the visa allocation?
MINISTER GILES: Thanks very much. As I indicated in my remarks, we did grant nearly twice as many in the last program year as in the last year of the former government. But we recognised because we have so many on hand that that standing alone is not a solution, and that's why, having done the hard work of getting rid of the backlog across the board, we now have the capacity to engage very closely with community and indeed with experts about finding a solution that will ensure that we have parent visas that meet the expectations of the Australian community. Now the migration review provided some recommendations in that regard, which we are responding to in a considered manner, but we've recognised that this is an absolutely fundamental issue, both the contributory and non-contributory parent visa wait times, not where they need to be. So we need not simply to keep doing the same things that we have been doing, but to look at different policy options informed by the evidence and the views of community members. I know that this is a particularly critical issue across the Australian Indian diaspora community, amongst others so this is something that I will endeavour to keep you and your readers abreast of as we work through this policy work and a deep engagement with community as well as experts.
Thanks very much everyone.
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