At an ethnic media press conference held in Melbourne early last week, Mr Coleman said that 150 new staff members had been hired by the Department of Home Affairs and processing times of many applications have been drastically reduced.
"Student visas and economic visas are also being processed much faster this financial year," he said, adding, "processing time of short term visas is reduced to 31 days now, as compared to the earlier time of 224 days."
When asked if there was an 'unannounced cut' in the level of immigration to Australia, with 20 per cent fewer skilled independent visas being approved in the first quarter of this financial year, Mr Coleman said, "That is incorrect. I have seen that figure being quoted in the media and have been advised by our department that it's not the correct figure."
When asked about the expected migrant intake this financial year, given that fewer than 163,000 new migrants arrived in the country last year, Mr Coleman said, "We have new procedures in place and security checks are taking longer to complete. That is why fewer applications have been processed."
He added, "We will not compromise on security checks - that's what the people of Australia expect of us."
