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

I do not intend to detain the House for long, because this is clearly a stunt from the opposition. As I said last night, the opposition's position on the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test and Other Provisions) Bill is that it does not go far enough and it is not necessary. The shadow minister has been saying for weeks, 'We don't need to do this, it is completely unnecessary,' and then he came out last night and said, 'It's not going far enough.'

The shadow minister in his contribution has retrospectively fitted his amendment to his rhetoric. In his second reading contribution yesterday, he said that this amendment was necessary because if somebody who was in Australia on a visa commits an offence—and he used the example of Northies or down at the club; I think he used the example of the Coogee Bay Hotel—the Australian people deserve to know that if they are convicted of an offence they could then be deported. What he did not outline to the House were the implications for people who are applicants for visas. I suspect he did not even realise that was the import of his amendment.

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