Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Dawson says, ‘That’s all right.’ It is a lot of money and it is exactly half the amount we inherited from the previous government—not exactly half but around half: in 2007-08 it was $4.23 million and in 2006-07 it was $3.8 million; more than the current budget of the national communications branch.

If the honourable member for Cook wants to start this debate, I do not think this is essential to the debate. I do not think this is a key point, but if the honourable member for Cook wants to raise matters, he needs to be sure of his facts. He needs to make sure when he says things to the House that he is correct.

The member for Cook also raises the matter of character and, again, he has been unsure of his facts. He has been wrong. The member for Cook said in the House the other day, as I mentioned during question time, that the minister’s power to deal with character issues is not appellable; it cannot be appealed to the courts. All he had to do was lean across to the man sitting next to him, the former minister for immigration, who had his decisions on character matters appealed to the courts and had a particularly disastrous result because proper and due process is very important in these instances. I am very clear. I have said previously that I will take character into account in these processes. I am more than happy for the member for Cook when that has happened to then question me about how that occurred. I am more than happy for the member for Cook, if he is still in his current portfolio, to ask me how they were dealt with and what the result was. He can try and pre-empt the decisions all he likes.

He makes the point that character issues should be taken into account, and I agree with him. He might ask the member for Berowra, the member for Menzies or Senator Vanstone how they took character into account when considering matters at Baxter, Woomera and previous riots, protests and fires, and the millions of dollars worth of damage caused in those incidents. He could ask them how they took character into account, but I would say each case is taken on a case-by-case basis, as is appropriate.

The member for Cook raises the matter of the counts at Christmas Island and the face-to-file checks. As I made clear last night, the initial check indicated that everybody had been returned and the numbers were appropriate. Then there were some anomalies identified through the face-to-file check. They have been further checked, and I can advise the member for Cook and the House that I have been advised by the department of immigration, the Australian Federal Police and Serco that those matters have been resolved and everybody is in the detention centre—

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