This legal challenge may have “important implications” for how quickly the Australian government is required to act to reunite citizens with their families overseas.  

Abdullah, a permanent Australian resident, said his partner Fatema and her children applied for a partner visa in 2017 but they remain in Pakistan while the Morrison government decides on whether to allow their move into the country.

Commenting on the challenge, senior lawyer Josephine Langbien said the federal government “must do more” to reunite these families in Australia.

“This family cannot return to Afghanistan. After 20 years of war, the Australian government has a moral duty to the people of Afghanistan, including family members of Australians like Abdullah,” Ms Langbien said.

More than six months after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the Morrison government has failed to take meaningful action to deal with the delays in the family migration system or improve reunion pathways for families, HRLC said.

The centre added that Mr Hawke’s “empty announcements” have not reduced the waiting times, changed the discriminatory policies or waived “unrealistic” visa requirements that are keeping many Afghan-Australian families apart.

Chair at the National Refugee-led Advisory and Advocacy Group and member of the Afghanistan-Australian Advocacy Network Shabnam Safa said that they are “deeply concerned” for members of the community whose lives are “put on hold”.

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“Despite the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, there are thousands in Abdullah and Fatema’s shoes who have waited several years to be reunited with their families, whose future could change for the better with a stroke of a pen by the minister, but who remains separated and stuck in limbo without justification.

“The empty announcements from the minister have not translated into action or people finding safety or being reunited with their loved ones any faster,” Ms Safa said. “This is beyond unreasonable now – it’s immoral.”