An Italian family, a looming deadline and a migration system under scrutiny
By Marco Testa
While Immigration Minister, Tony Burke MP is heckled by a group of Australians at a Mosque in Lakemba, who accuse him – and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – of “killing 1 million of our people in Palestine”, an Italian family and business owner from Adelaide is humbly seeking his discretion for the granting of visa that would allow them to remain in this country and continue to make a meaningful contribution to their community.
At the centre of the case is Luca Bonavoglia, a 45-year-old pastry chef who has spent nearly 16 years building a life in Australia. Alongside his wife, Simona Caselle, he runs Dolceria by Luca, a café that has become a fixture in the Croydon community. Together they are raising three daughters – Sofia, 16, Gaia, 12, and baby Emmanuela – all of whom consider Australia home.
Yet, after years of work, tax contributions and more than $200,000 spent on visa applications, legal fees and English training, the Bonavoglias have been told they must leave the country by 21 April.
“I love this country so much,” says Luca in an interview reported by The Advertiser. “So much of my life has been here. My children are Australian… I just want to open my café each day, pay my tax, and grow my business.”
For his eldest daughter Sofia, the prospect of deportation is deeply personal. Having arrived in Australia as an infant, she describes the country as “all I’ve ever really known,” adding that being forced to leave feels “like getting kicked out of my own house.”
The case has sparked a growing wave of community support. A petition launched on Change.org has already attracted more than 1,600 verified signatures, urging the Minister to exercise discretion and allow the family to remain. The petition frames the issue in stark terms: “This is not just policy – this is a real family facing separation.”
Supporters describe the Bonavoglia family as hardworking, generous and deeply embedded in local life. Friends recount years of quiet contribution.
From running a small business that employs locals to participating in church and community networks, the Bonavoglia exemplify a kind of migration which does not seek to impose a different way of life on Australia, but rather work hard and give back, recalling the hundreds of thousands of Italian migrants who helped build modern Australia after World War 2.
Legal representatives argue that Bonavoglia’s situation hinges on a technicality. After initially working under sponsorship, he later opened his own business, effectively leaving him without a sponsoring employer, a shift that now jeopardises his residency. His barrister has called on the Minister to intervene, noting that similar discretion has been exercised in comparable cases, including a recent reprieve granted to a Ukrainian café-owning family in South Australia. For now, the Bonavoglia family awaits whether Minister Burke will take the matter into his hands.
In a country that prides itself on offering a “fair go,” and is currently debating on the kind of migration which best serves our shared identity, the Bonavoglia case puts to the test whether that principle will extend to a family that many argue has already proven its worth in years of lived contribution.
Allora! joins the community’s efforts, calling for Minister Burke to seek options that will allow the Bonavoglias to lawfully remain together in Australia.
