Just days after the passing of the asylum seeker medivac bill, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has moved to reopen the mothballed Christmas Island detention centre – at a cost expected to run into billions of dollars – to house asylum seekers who are being sent from Nauru to Australia for medical treatment.

At the same time, an entirely predictable political slanging match has erupted, with the usual parties trotting out the well-used lines to take pot shots at each other via press conference and social media.

Given that Mr Morrison was the minister who “stopped the boats”, you could argue that when he says the move is necessary to stave off attempts by people smugglers to resume their trade, he would know the state of play, but others among us might point out that illegal immigration will be an election issue and he knows it.

We don't yet have a date for a federal election, but already the main players seem to be actively campaigning, and opinion polls are continuing to suggest Bill Shorten should start saving his cardboard boxes ahead of a move into The Lodge.

But behind the politicking on immigration issues are real people, who have done little to deserve having vital decisions about their lives reduced to slick sound bites for politicians who are looking for some mileage ahead of polling day.

In recent days, The Daily Advertiser has been speaking to people about the immigration process and it is gruelling, to say the least.

Caseworkers have told us would-be new Aussies are waiting for months between passing a citizenship test and actually being formally invited to become Australians.

Only after being sworn in as new Australians can people then begin the process of applying to have their relatives join them, which often leaves families apart for years.

There seems something particularly unedifying about politicians becoming partisan and adversarial on policies that have suggest direct implications for the future of so many people.