Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

Beds were burning at Villawood, as they were on Christmas Island last week. There were beds burnt at Villawood and people stayed on the roofs for a number of days in that fairly appalling scene. On 1 September 2010, 90 detainees broke out of the Northern Immigration Detention Centre in Darwin. That cost taxpayers $430,000 to fix the mess. And not just that, but it cost a further $790,000 to upgrade the centre because of the security problems at that place, because it was not developed to deal with this level of policy failure. Mind you, I note that we learned in estimates that no-one was charged over that incident either.

On 15 November 2010, there was a violent brawl at Broadmeadows involving 50 children. One was hospitalised. On 17 November there was another rooftop protest at Villawood. At the Airport Lodge in Darwin there was a protest over several days, from 7 to 10 February, which ended with 11 people hospitalised and a further 11 taken to the watch house. On 27 and 28 February there was a riot at Christmas Island in the family compound, where 13 people were injured, windows were smashed, three asylum seekers were arrested and 15 young males had to be moved off the island. On 16 March 2011 there was a mass breakout at the Asti Motel. They walked down Smith Street in Darwin at will. Hundreds of them walked down Smith Street in Darwin, while—not to be outdone—a rooftop protest was also underway at the Northern Immigration Detention Centre in Darwin.

On 17 March there was, for once, a quieter protest, but a protest nonetheless, at Curtin. We should be watching Curtin carefully, because the minister knows that things are boiling up in Curtin as well. On 12 and 13 March there were mass breakouts at Christmas Island, and that was the same weekend the Prime Minister sought to tell everybody that everything was under control. Then, of course, from 14 to 17 March riots broke out on Christmas Island as hundreds engaged in violent protests. Buildings and beds were burned to the ground, staff were holed up and unable to escape, police were assaulted, tear gas was used and beanbag rounds were deployed.

Such is the crisis that has occurred under this government and under this minister that Federal Police had to take by force a Commonwealth facility. That is a disgrace. That is absolutely a loss of control. Not only have they lost control of our borders; now they have lost control of the detention network—and the chaos continues.

This is not the first time we have seen riots and other protests in our detention network, as those on this side of the House know. But there is a big difference now as opposed to when the coalition was in government. When this side of the House had to deal with the difficulties of people coming to this country, we acted. We took steps; we took action; we stopped the boats. We did that through a series of measures, not just one measure. The minister tries to make out that there was just one measure here and one measure there. There were a series of measures put in place and, as a result of those measures, the boats stopped. The number of boats reduced to an absolute trickle. I noticed that last night the minister said that his goal at Christmas Island is to get a detention population to 2,000. That is his goal!

I see the Father of the House here today. The Father of the House put in place a series of measures that ensured that when the coalition left office in November 2007 there were not 2,000 people on Christmas Island, there were not 2,000 people in the detention network; there were four people who had arrived illegally by boat who were in our detention network. That is a goal the minister might want to take up. Rather than 2,000, he might want to think about trying to get the number to four. But to get it to four he has to do some things which I do not think this minister has the resolve to do. Resolve, as the member for Berowra knows, as the former Prime Minister knows and as those who have served in that capacity know, requires you to take difficult decisions. Resolve requires you to send messages when there is chaos in our detention network and requires that you immediately sanction those who are involved in rioting.

This is a minister who is happy to have a three-month review and not know who was involved in the riots last week. He is not happy to suspend those people immediately. They are going to wait for about six months, and after that period of time, maybe even in 12 months time, when he does his general character test review case by case, he may well decide to deny them a visa. But you have to go on his form. It was revealed in this House yesterday and today that three people on SIEV36 were part of a plan, as the Northern Territory coroner said, to scuttle that boat. An independent assessment and review by the coroner found that they sank the boat. The minister knows that the general character test does not require a criminal conviction. He knows this absolutely. He knows that at any time, regardless of any other criminal proceedings, he could have revoked those visas. He could even change those visas. He could have given them a 449 safe-haven visa. But this is a minister who decided not to act. As long as this minister decides not to act, the boats will keep coming, the detention centre chaos will continue and we will continue to see the harm, the waste and the frustration of the Australian people who are angry about one thing: a government that cannot run an immigration system. They are sick to death of a government that simply refuses to listen to them and understand that what infuriates them is a government that has lost control of our detention network, our borders and our immigration system. Their only answer, as the Prime Minister did shamefully in this place a few weeks ago, is to say, ‘The Australian people feel this way because they have been victims of a race baiting campaign by the opposition.’ That is a disgrace. Before the last election the Prime Minister said, ‘If you are concerned about border protection, you are not a racist.’ Commander Bradbury over there I am sure put this in there because he knew—

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