The Immigration Minister has defended the original decision to deny visas to the family of a terminally ill Pakistani student. 

Hassan Asif has cancer, and is too ill to fly. His family was initially refused a visa to be with him in Australia before he dies, but after further investigation, a visa was granted.

Minister Peter Dutton told Nick McCallum he cannot simply yield to all compassionate impulses.

‘The first response from any of us as human beings would be ‘I want to grant that visa’,’ Mr Dutton said. 

‘There are lots of complex cases that the Immigration Department deals with each day.

‘Ultimately, the decision-maker has to look at a very difficult circumstance, and weigh that up against what’s in our national interest.’

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