Most people who seek asylum in Australia arrive on an airplane.
Last year, 27,931 people sought asylum in Australia after arriving here by air.
By the end of the year, 1,425 visas had been granted, but around 20,000 applications still remained unprocessed.
Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton maintains a segregated application process for people who arrive in Australia by sea.
Called ‘Fast Track’, it gives people only limited legal rights.
People on the ‘Fast Track’ have been waiting in Australia for up to 7 years for their applications to be processed.
People in Australia waiting to have their asylum case decided don’t have automatic access to government services like Centrelink or Medicare.
Many of them are not allowed to work.
For those struggling to survive, the only assistance available to them is the SRSS (Status Resolution Support Services), which provides modest income support, trauma support services, and medical care. In 2018, there were 13,299 people supported by the SRSS. 28% of these were under 15 years old.
In the past two years, the government has cut the budget for SRSS by 60%. As many as 8,000 people may be cut off of SRSS support due to these cuts.
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