During its esfirst term in office, Labor allocated an additional $160 million to process asylum applications more quickly. While that stabilised the size of the backlog at the primary level, the total number of asylum-seekers in Australia under Labor increased from about 94,000 in May 2022 to 121,000 in February 2025. The number of asylum-seekers refused at primary stage and still living in the community increased from 68,000 in May 2022 to 93,000 in February 2025.
There is no strategy to prevent the same thing happening again in Labor’s second term. That trend means we will look increasingly like countries in North America and Europe with large numbers of unsuccessful asylum-seekers living in the shadows of society. The minister must develop a holistic asylum-seeker strategy to address that. Such a strategy will be politically difficult and costly.
Abul Rizvi - Incoming immigration minister faces immense challenges, P&I