Subjects: Albanese Government’s pathway to permanency for New Zealanders, NZYQ bridging visas technical issue solved
MINISTER GILES: Good morning, everyone. It's really great to be here back on the Gold Coast back for something that is a really special experience to be part of welcoming people who are making the greatest commitment you can make to our country, paying us the greatest compliment by choosing to become Australian citizens. In just a few minutes, I'll be able to welcome people from 13 different nationalities, who've made that choice and made a very special commitment to our country in these beautiful surrounds. There are so many fantastic stories in this group, including an English doctor who's also a triathlete, and some New Zealanders who very appropriately given where we are standing a keen aspirant triathletes. And as New Zealanders I just want to touch on very briefly because as of this week, 50,000 Kiwis living in Australia have taken up the offer that the Albanese government has made, make it easier for them to become Australian citizens, cementing that great contribution they are already making to communities around the country, but particularly here in Queensland, and especially in the Gold Coast. I'm so thrilled that 50,000 have taken up this offer and have made a formal commitment to our country or a seeking to do so. But it's particularly pleasing to see that Queensland has had an even bigger uptake than Victoria and New South Wales. So I can't wait to welcome these people from across the ditch into full membership of the Australian community with so many others in just a few minutes. Now, there's another matter I want to very briefly touch upon. In recent days, it became clear to the department that a technical issue affected visas granted to people release fine the High Court decision in the end said why can matter. Like last year, this issue was a technical issue and has now been resolved. And I want to reassure every member of the Australian community that this has not affected the constant supervision the constant monitoring of everyone who was required to be released in this cohort, because Community Safety has been our absolute focus throughout Community Safety Working with our law enforcement officers working with the Border Force, the Australian Federal Police and the state and territory police forces focusing on doing all we can adhering to the law to keep the community safe. Now I think there's time for a couple of questions before I have to go inside.
JOURNALIST: I guess the Shadow Treasurer did say that, you know, he's sort of blamed the government for incompetence over that these have been well, I guess what do you have to say about?
MINISTER GILES: Well the opposition are always seeking to play politics. But the fact remains that this is an issue that had been on the books for more than a decade since 2013. Throughout indeed, the former government's time government in which the Shadow Treasurer was a part. They are always focused on looking for someone to blame, never focused on offering solutions. Our view is the opposite. It's about solving problems not continually talking about.
JOURNALIST: Do you think that the government was incompetent? With this? Like, do you think it will happen again, even if it was a technical error?
MINISTER GILES: Our focus has been on community safety throughout in responding to the High Court decision, we have ensured that people in this code have been constantly monitored. And we've acted immediately to deal with this technical issue, which dates back again for more than a decade. So it has been resolved straight away by working around the clock to keep the community safe or invalid and have the 10 individuals who are charged with breaches have those charges. The issue was identified over the weekend. And in terms of the 10 individuals who have faced charges, I guess there's two points that need to be made. Firstly, of course, the laying of charges and the conduct of prosecution is a matter either for the Commonwealth DPP or the various state and territory authorities. And it's particularly important to note this second point because this will not affect any offenses conducted under state or territory law. The weekend when the issue was first identified late on Sunday.
JOURNALIST: Are you confident that this technical issue won't happen again?
MINISTER GILES: This is a matter that we have dealt with very quickly. And throughout this issue, I can assure everyone that the issues around community safety haven't been compromised because continuous monitoring has been maintained. We've acted quickly to regrant those visas. Thank you very much everyone.
[ENDS]
