Siobhan Clavin, 33, has lived in Australia since 2010 after coming to the country for a working holiday.

She met her husband Tory Klason and fell in love with the Aussie way of life.

When the couple had their first child, Saoirse, 2, Ms Clavin's mother Rosemary visited from Ireland and stayed with them for three months.

"My mother was here for a month prior to her birth and the following two months after," she said in the letter.

"This was a crucial time for my family, where her support and guidance was invaluable as we navigated such unfamiliar territory as creating life.

"Her maternal support and extra hands aided me initially whilst my wounds were healing and I struggled to walk/sit/move, with the start of my breastfeeding journey and setting me on my own path to motherhood, something no other single person on earth can do with complete unconditional love and compassion."

However, when Ms Clavin gave birth to their second daughter Roisin, six months ago, her mother was not allowed to travel to see her newest grandchild.

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Ms Clavin, of Kirkstall in southwest Victoria, has joined a growing number of people asking the federal government to class parents living overseas as immediate family. "It's heartbreaking that mum can't be here," she said.

"She would be on a plane tomorrow if she was allowed to. There's so many other people with similar stories."

Ms Clavin said she was considering a move back to Ireland due to uncertainty about the future and when her mother would be allowed to see her grandchildren.

"I am in a new situation where I have to navigate parenting a toddler and newborn whilst healing from childbirth and dealing with a global pandemic, irregular and erratic lockdowns and an absolute uncertainty about life in general, on top of an overwhelming sadness as I do not know when I will actually see, feel or hug my closest family members again," Ms Clavin wrote in her letter.

She said the support from her mother in the months after giving birth to her first child had been invaluable.

"Personally, this initial help from my mother to adjust to having a new life to nurture was the difference between post partum depression/anxiety and a healthy mental state," Ms Clavin said. "Think of that on a grand scale with the amount of migrant mothers currently living in Australia without that parental support and consider the implications on the already strained and underfunded mental health system in our country.

"Please consider parents as immediate family and include them in your travel exemptions."

Ms Clavin said she had been speaking to the Irish embassy, who is preparing to take her case to the federal government.

On August 11, Senator Mehreen Faruqi spoke in parliament about the travel restrictions. She said it had been 509 days since Australia's borders closed on the 20th of March 2020.

"This situation has posed such incredible challenges and caused such heartbreak for so many in our community, as well as their families and friends overseas," she said. "When the PM said the vaccine rollout was 'not a race', we heard: 'we are in no rush to reopen'. This mindset has to be challenged.

"It is a race: for public health but also for the future of this multicultural country."