When the Albanese government announced a six month ban on Iranian visitor visa holders on 26 March, it did not just affect thousands of travellers overseas.
It also sent a painful message to the roughly 95,000 Iranian born Australian citizens who had built their lives around the promise of fairness and belonging.
The Department of Home Affairs said the ban was in the national interest because of rapidly changing global conditions. It applies to Iranian citizens outside Australia who hold a Subclass 600 visitor visa even if that visa was already approved.
More than 7,000 people with valid visas have been stopped from boarding flights. The government used its new section 84B powers to do this. It was the first time the arrival control determination tool had ever been used.
For Iranian Australians with elderly parents, siblings and extended family still in Iran, the decision hit close to home.
Many of them became citizens because they believed in Australia’s commitment to fair process, multiculturalism and compassion. They say the ban goes against all of those values.
There are 95,000 Iranian Australian citizens in this country and right now there are no emergency visa options that would let them bring family members out of immediate danger.
In past conflicts, Australia used tourist visas as a way to help people from Afghanistan and Ukraine reach safety. That option is now gone for Iranians, and nothing has replaced it.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke defended the decision. He said choices about who stays in Australia permanently should be made by the government and should not be the “random consequence of who booked a holiday.”
Jana Favero, deputy chief executive of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, described the ban as a massive betrayal of the Iranian community.
Professor Ghezelbash from the University of New South Wales warned the ban makes Australia’s decision making feel random.
He said people who followed the proper process, paid their fees and met every requirement have now been told none of that matters.
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Independent MP Zali Steggall said cancelling lawfully granted visas weakens trust in the entire migration system and sets a dangerous precedent.
There are some exemptions. Spouses, de facto partners and dependent children of Australian citizens are not affected.
Parents of citizens will be looked at case by case but migration lawyers say the bar for getting an exemption is very high and applicants must provide a lot of proof.
The ban lasts six months but can be extended. For Iranian Australians who chose this country because of what it stood for, the question now is whether those values still apply to them.
