Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler) (9.42 am)—I rise today to draw federal parliament’s attention to the plight of the Tran family in my electorate. I do this on their behalf and on behalf of the Vietnamese community in my electorate, who have made substantial representations. The Tran family arrived in Australia between 1995 and 1997.





Mr Tat Thang Tran has a master of commerce in economics. His wife is Mrs Hai Nhu Le and their three children are Hung Le Tuan Tran, aged 15, a student at Canterbury Boys High School, My Linh Tran, aged 12, and Jason Le Tran, aged four. This family is facing the possibility of being split up because they have two separate applications. So far Mr Tran has been unsuccessful in his application to be able to stay in Australia.

I wrote to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Amanda Vanstone, on 27 March, the first time, and spoke to her on that day. On that day I lodged a petition with over 2,300 signatures, calling for the minister to intervene to allow this family to stay in Australia. I followed that up with letters on 26 April and 19 May, when I included 21 additional letters of support.

It is certainly of great concern that Mr Tran faces deportation as he fears for his safety if he is returned to Vietnam. The family is certainly making a great contribution to this country. Jason, their youngest boy, was born in Sydney. The children are very much part of the local community and part of the Australian community.

Surely the minister should be able to express some compassion and allow them to stay here. We have been advised that, at the moment, the minister is unable to intervene under section 417 until the RRT reach a decision in this case, but I would certainly urge the government to intervene and to have compassion in this case. I assure the members of the Vietnamese community in my electorate that I will continue to represent in the strongest possible way the interests of the Tran family.