Taking care of temporary residents and asylum seekers during lockdown is morally right. But it’s also in our national interest

Australia's coronavirus relief exclusions prove we are not all in this together

“We are all in this together,” prime minister Scott Morrison intoned solemnly to parliament, as he outlined Australia’s response to the global Covid-19 pandemic. “We are charting the road through. We are all in.”

Some, however, are more “in” than others.

Far from being the great leveller it is asserted to be, Covid-19 has laid bare – as if it needed further exposition – the structural inequalities that exist in contemporary Australia.

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Those who are in Australia temporarily – to study, to work, to pick fruit, to be protected from persecution – have had their second-class status brutally exposed by the extremis of Covid-19.

As the government has rolled out massive and unprecedented rescue packages for jobs and businesses – $214bn and counting – for those in Australia on temporary visas there is no safety net at all.

Many work in industries severely affected by shutdowns. They have lost jobs in their tens of thousands. But they are excluded from all government support measures, including the centrepiece jobkeeper wage subsidy and jobseeker welfare payments.

As the Covid-19 pandemic wreaks its devastation across the world, they face the very real prospect of destitution, of being left homeless, of not having enough to eat.

That they don’t vote is too simplistic an argument, their treatment reflects a more fundamental conception in Australia that people temporarily in the country – who live among Australian citizens as neighbours, work alongside them as colleagues, catch the bus as fellow commuters, and pay taxes as fellow contributors – are somehow less deserving of the country’s protection.

They are, in a phrase coined by Peter Mares, “not quite Australian”.

Those left stranded are not an insignificant number: an estimated 1.1 million people are in Australia on temporary visas and are excluded from the jobkeeper and jobseeker support (most New Zealanders, the largest expatriate group, are included). They include international students, working holiday makers, skilled work visa holders, asylum seekers and refugees.

At a state level, Tasmania and South Australia have announced limited support measures for some temporary visa holders, but the federal government has argued that in constructing its rescue packages for the Australian economy it “had to draw the line somewhere”.

That is a reasonable and defensible argument, and in a time of extreme stress, fighting an external invisible foe, national inflexion is a natural instinct for governments, and certainly a politically attractive one.

A government’s most fundamental duty, after all, is to protect its people.

But who are its people? Who are the people the government should care for and consider its own? Australia’s government has chosen to define that narrowly – as citizens and permanent residents. It has consciously decided that those in Australia on temporary visas are undeserving of support.

There are far stronger arguments why Australia should take a broader view of who is “Australian”, who are members of this community and who should be afforded this community’s protection.

First is the humanitarian imperative.

These are extraordinary times. The world faces a global pandemic the likes of which has not been seen for a century. There exists an obligation to offer some measure of assistance to people in this country in a time of unprecedented crisis.

The entreaties that people should “make their way home” are politically alluring but simplistic and impractical. Many simply cannot: they cannot afford flights home; the borders of their country have been sealed shut – even to citizens; transit countries will not allow them to pass through; or they have come to Australia seeking protection and cannot safely go back.

Others have lived in Australia for years and have built families and lives and communities here, there is no other “home” to go back to.

Australians too, are stranded overseas. The case for reciprocity is strong. Australia should treat its visitors the way it would like its citizens who are caught overseas at this critical time treated. Other countries have recognised this: Portugal has temporarily granted all migrants in the country the rights of its citizens.

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There is the moral argument.

These people have been invited and welcomed into the country – to study, to bring skills, to be protected from persecution, to labour in our farms and factories, hotels and hospitals. They have come and contributed, they have broadened the fabric of the Australian community.

Australia presents great opportunities to its many migrants, but too, this country has built an economy dependent on migrant labour, on the international student market, and on the economic expansion that a high rate of immigration brings.

Hundreds of thousands of jobs are staffed by skilled work visa holders, international students, working holiday makers and seasonal workers. They are vital to the Australian economy.

While they are here, these people are part of the Australian community, they are neighbours and colleagues, fellows and friends. They have paid taxes, built families, friendships and communities here.

Australia has a moral obligation to the people it has invited to be part of this society. It is not reasonable to welcome people to the country in times of plenty and prosperity only to banish them when things become difficult.

Finally, it is in Australia’s own interest to help not only its citizens, but everybody who lives in this country.

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The Covid-19 pandemic is a global issue, and simply pretending that Australia can be sealed off, and foreign nationals forced overseas, is naive. This crisis will not be solved by Australia acting alone and on its own. No nation can be safe from this virus while it is surrounded by it.

At the end of this crisis, Australia must resume its place in the world as an outward-looking, globally engaged, trading, travelling nation, as a place that welcomes the world in. This will be much harder to do if we are seen to summarily discard visitors who suddenly become inconvenient.

The government must take a broader view of what it means to be part of the Australian community.

If it is true that “we are all in this together”, everyone here must be “we”.