ayomiw

I recently found out that the time spent on a 173 visa does not count towards the newly arrived residents waiting period which I believe is quite unfair. We took the 173 route for my parents and have now converted it to a 143 but when we recently applied for the commonwealth seniors card it was rejected on the grounds that 173 is not a permanent visa. The financial cost of the 173 is significant and really the time spent on 173 should be counted towards permanent residency. Does anyone have any thoughts on how we could ask DIAC to look at 173 visas in a different light?