Migration agents lobby visa minister at private dinner

Indian Australian migration agents paid $1000 to the Victorian ALP to buy access to federal ­minister ­Andrew Giles at a dinner, during which they raised concerns about visas.

Migration agent Harjeet Chahal standing with federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and Lily Lily D'Ambrosio. Picture: Supplied.

Indian Australian migration agents paid $1000 election campaign donations to the Victorian ALP to buy access to federal ­Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister ­Andrew Giles at a private dinner, during which they raised concerns about visa policies.

The intimate dinner on Melbourne’s northern fringes for fewer than a dozen people was not attended by federal Immigration Department officials.

The October 2 event at Farm Vigano wedding and conference centre in South Morang – to raise campaign cash to bankroll the re-election of Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio – was organised by controversial Labor figure Jasvinder Sidhu, who two years ago was suspended from the ALP.

According to Facebook posts by two guests at the $1000-a-head night, the migration agents and ­Indian community advocates lobbied Mr Giles about visa ­delays, parental visa issues and broad difficulties in dealing with immigration.

“We had in-depth discussion with both ministers,” Sabhi Singh, an Indian community ­figure, posted on Facebook.

“In particular we raised issues of long delays in visas, parents’ visas issues and difficult process of dealing with immigration.”

Mr Singh claimed in his social media post that Mr Giles was ­receptive to the concerns raised during the fundraising evening.

“We were pleased to note that Minister Giles admitted … Australian visa system is not working as his government would expect,” he wrote. “He is committed to improve the system and bring many changes in visa processing.

“He also shared that we do need to provide an answer to visa applicants, it may a YES or NO. But delays of weeks and months was unacceptable. We hope to see big changes in immigration ­department under his leadership.”

Mr Sidhu, who declined to comment to The Australian, ­described the night as a “great” event in a Facebook post.

“In particular Amar Singh and Shubham Aggarwal raised issues of long delays in visas, parents’ visas issues and difficult process of dealing with immigration,” he wrote.

“Everyone was pleased to note that Minister Giles acknowledge the issue and assured that government was working to fix. It is over nine years of previous governments’ incompetence and neglect which has led to current problems.

“However, Labor government has not wasted a day and started working to bring positive changes.”

Revelations of the October 2 event are a significant development in an emerging problem for the ­Albanese government over the fundraising activities of Mr Giles.

The minister’s office failed to respond to detailed questions from The Australian on Monday.

The Australian has already ­revealed in the past week that, since August, the minister has ­attended four Victorian ALP fundraisers targeting multicultural communities.

Shubham Aggarwal, the chief executive of Aggarwal Migration Consultants, confirmed he made a donation to secure a seat.

“I paid a donation to Lily to attend,” he said.

One of the Indian Australians who attended the event, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no federal Immigration Departmental officers or Victorian government officials were present during the dinner.

One of the guests confirmed tickets to secure access to Mr Giles and Ms D’Ambrosio cost $1000. The Australian understands that, of the small number of guests, two were migration agents and the others were described as concerned ­Indian community members and activists focused on immigration issues.

The migration agents who ­attended were Mr Aggarwal and Harjeet Chahal from Aussizz ­Thomastown.

“There were no one from the department there, he (Mr Giles) came in his own car, he drove himself,” the source said.

The source said there was “a general discussion only” during the evening and no specific individual cases were raised with the minister. “He (Mr Giles) made it clear he would not talk about cases,” the source said.

Mr Singh wrote on Facebook that Mr Giles said that, in the past nine years, the department “has lost a large number of its staff and visa applications have increased significantly”.

Confirmation that Mr Sidhu – who was an assistant secretary of Labor’s Tarneit branch in Melbourne’s west – is playing a key role in raising election campaign donations for the Andrews state government is ­expected to create tension within Labor, given the ­circumstances of his suspension in 2020. The Andrews government didn’t address questions regarding whether it was appropriate for Mr Sidhu to be organising Ms D’Ambrosio’s fundraising, given the controversy around him.

“We expect fundraising events are conducted in line with the legislation,” a government spokesperson said.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The original version of this story, published on November 4, 2022, included a photograph featuring guests at a Labor fundraising event attended by a number of migration agents. The photograph carried an incorrect caption identifying the guests as migration agents. In fact, the guests in the image were not migration agents but community members who attended the Labor fundraising dinner. The Australian apologises for the error.