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Liberal Senator for New South Wales, Marise Payne has welcomed the initiative and said it is essential to ensuring the government’s policy settings meet the growing demand for flexible visa options for parents of Australian citizens.

Senator Payne said flexible visa options for sponsored parents of Australian citizens was an important issue within Western Sydney.

“The Coalition Government recognises that many Australian migrant communities face particular pressures through the separation of children from parents and grandchildren from grandparents,” Senator Payne said.

The Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Alex Hawke, today released a Discussion Paper inviting comment on ways to enhance existing visa arrangements to enable sponsored parents to visit their family in Australia for a continuous period of up to five years.

“I invite all interested communities in our electorate to make a submission to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and to put forward their ideas to make a temporary parent visa work best for families,” Senator Payne said.

“We want to help families reunite and spend time together, while ensuring that we do so in a way that does not burden Australia’s health care system.”

“The Australian Government believes that visiting parents should have the opportunity to spend time with children and grandchildren who live in Australia,” Senator Payne said.

“The number of permanent visa places for parents made available in the migration programme is small and waiting times are up to 30 years. The Government’s intention is that any new temporary parent visa arrangement should help offset these issues, while allowing Australia to benefit socially through having united families and cohesive communities.

The Turnbull Government will implement this important election commitment for migrant families in 2017. Public submissions must be made by midnight, Monday 31 October 2016; to make a submission, send an email to temporary.parent.visa@border.gov.au.