Highlights
- Alex Hawke acknowledges anxiety amongst Indian-Australians due to India’s COVID crisis
- Immigration minister thanks the Indian community for guiding government in helping India with relief material
- International students to continue studies offshore till next year, says Mr Hawke
Speaking at a recent event organised by the Liberal Party’s Communities Engagement Committee, Alex Hawke, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs stated that Indian-Australians are facing a very difficult time due the COVID outbreak in India.
At the virtual event, the minister mentioned that he had met some members of the Indian community in recent days, who had lost four-to-five relatives to COVID-19 in India.
“These impacts are going to cause a lot of anxiety and stress,” said Mr Hawke.
With the closure of Australia’s international borders, members of the Indian-Australian community have been unable to travel to India to attend the funeral rites of their loved ones who passed away. Due to India’s current public health situation, Australians are unable to get travel exemption to travel to India on compassionate grounds.
Minister Hawke added the Australian government had some tough decisions to make, while giving people the permission to travel to India or denying it. He added that people need to understand that their travel could pose a health risk.
Mr Hawke mentioned the case of Govind Kant from his electorate of Mitchell in New South Wales, who was given exemption to travel to India to care for his father. The 47-year-old died in India after being infected by COVID-19, leaving behind two children in Australia.
Govid Kant, an assistant director for energy company Trina Solar in Australia, had returned to India for family reasons. Source: Supplied/Trina Solar.
He also acknowledged the potential impact of this crisis on the mental health and wellbeing of the community and how it could lead to an increased demand for mental health services.
Mr Hawke said that the federal government has boosted funding for its mental health budget and significantly invested in better health services.
He added that it was important to facilitate and support events where Australian communities rally together to assist India during this crisis.
“As a community, we need to get together to embrace the Australian-Indian community, which is suffering more than most countries at the moment and do our best to support them,” said Mr Hawke.
With the closure of borders people are unable to travel to India to attend funeral rites of their loved ones. Source: Getty Images/Naveen Sharma/EyeEm
The minister commended the Indian-Australian community for becoming “the best asset for the Australian government” in helping with the “very genuine humanitarian crisis in India”.
Thanking the community, Mr Hawke said they have helped the government identify vulnerable people in India, which enabled Australian diplomatic missions in India to provide help in their hour of need.
The minister was also asked to speak in relation to the future of international students in Australia, especially those who were halfway through with their studies before they left for India.
Mr Hawke acknowledged that this is a concern, however, remote online tutorials and sessions have been quite successful.
“It is not ideal, but it’s the way we have been able to sustain things as we go. If things had been different and we did not have the issues with vaccine supplies, interruption with the safety of vaccines for a period and the outbreak in the Subcontinent, we might have been ready at the end of this year,” Mr Hawke elaborated.
He reiterated that the government wants to work with the education industry to ensure that travel will resume when it is safe but for now, it will be offshore.
Mr. Wajib Ali, a politician from Nagar in Rajasthan in north-west India, owns educational institutions in Melbourne. He feels this could affect the future of many students who did not subscribe for remote or online education.
Due to the current situation in India there are no exemptions for Australians to leave and travel to India on compassionate grounds. Source: James D. Morgan/Getty Images
Speaking to SBS Hindi, he said that international students are in limbo with no certainty about their future.
“They are worried about losing opportunities and feel disadvantaged in terms of building their careers,” said Mr Ali.
He believes the Australian government needs to work with universities, educational institutions and industry stakeholders to seek a solution for currently-enrolled international students.
