One aspect to all this that really doesn't get discussed enough is the reality of the currently in force immigration legislation.

My family has recently successfully completed the process for "Permanent Residency" visas and first entered Australia as family unit earlier this year.

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The submitted appplication in paper width was the best part of 2 inches thick.

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The wait post application was nearly 5 months due to the backlog at the time.

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Inquiries going back more than 20 years were made, including full criminal record exposure.

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There were obviously in depth medical and security inquiries.

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In reality, we started the process of acquiring requisite legal documents in late 2006.

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My refusal to entertain certain what could be considered as corrupt local practices made matters at the time additionally time consuming and difficult.

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Now, if an applicant does not have any documents, and given the relevant immigration legislation alone, then the legal process is largely confounded, and additionally dependent in some instances on 3rd country support, which also has an additional cost, above and beyond the cost of keeping the claimants here.

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To me, if the Greens and others are serious about reform in this area, then they ought be proposing some very specific legislative changes.