Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan a year ago today, the Australian Government has received more than 200,000 refugee and humanitarian visa applications from Afghans desperately seeking protection. So far, only 57.4% of these applications have even been registered in the Department of Home Affairs’ system.
The previous government made a commitment of 31,500 places for Afghanistan over the next four years. The Labor government has not made it clear whether they will honour this undertaking. We urge the new Albanese government to act expeditiously and offer at least 20,000 additional refugee and humanitarian visas for Afghanistan. Many have already lost their lives as a result of the previous Australian government’s inaction, as the Taliban have hunted down, detained, tortured, and even killed those who worked with our forces as well as journalists, women’s rights defenders and members of religious minorities and other marginalised communities.
