On Wednesday 13 October 2021, Minister Tudge announced changes to the Partner visa framework with the supposed purpose to “protect vulnerable migrants from people who commit violent crimes against women and children”.

• Certainly, all victims, and potential victims of family violence must be supported and protected, however, this is not possible while men, who are also victims of family violence, are specifically excluded from the Ministers consideration. If we are going to make any real progress in stopping family violence in the community, we have to stop ignoring any victims of family violence and abuse. There is an existing system for supporting victims of family violence that are applicants for a partner visa that depend on the expertise of our courts, and medical experts – that is where it must remain. We have assisted many victims, male and female, to achieve Australian permanent residency through this existing mechanism.
• The Minister has confirmed his view that “those with low English proficiency, are particularly at risk” and as such has given family violence a limited gendered, and linguistic interpretation that does not exist – people from non-English-speaking backgrounds cannot be reasonably said to be inherently more likely to be a victim or perpetrator of family violence. This is a ludicrous suggestion that harks back to archaic dark-ages of the thinking of the White-Australia policy. Limiting immigration in such an arbitrary manner will be to the detriment of Australian society.
• The changes that will come into effect by the end of this year, will introduce a new requirement that partner visa applicants and their permanent resident sponsors must make “reasonable efforts to learn English” – again ignoring the objective fact that non-English speaking people, and people with limited English, make a significant contribution to Australian society and economy in countless ways that may be lost to us. We should not have to remind the Minister of the contributions of immigrants, not all English-speaking, to our country.
• The change will introduce a requirement that the Australian citizen or permanent resident sponsor of a Partner visa must be assessed against character and sponsorship obligations and approved before a visa application can be made will create significant additional costs, and complications to the partner visa application process. These barriers will not support their supposed purpose of reducing family violence – its logic is flawed as it seeks to solve a problem that is poorly conceived and given a gendered and linguistic interpretation that just does not exist.

• If you are considering a partner visa application, get in touch with us urgently for a consultation.
• Turner Coulson Immigration Lawyers are the team you need.
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