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

There were a number of questions incorporated in that contribution, and I will do my best to answer them, although there are some that I will take on notice. In relation to the arrangement with Malaysia, the costs of resettlement were outlined in the announcement. That does include, under the normal arrangements, all the costs that go to resettlement, including support through other government agencies. That has been factored into the costings, and the fact that we are resettling 4,000 people enables a per capita cost to be calculated from that.

In relation to Navitas, that contract was entered into in April this year, as I have previously announced. It is important that that Navitas contract in the Newcastle region is a different one to the previous one and involves a different housing provider. As I understand it, Navitas itself is doing the housing, as opposed to Resolve FM, which previously undertook the housing in Newcastle.

The honourable member asked whether I can release the three-, six- and 12-month reports. I will need to take that on notice to consider whether that is commercial-in-confidence. I will take advice on that. If it is possible to release them then I will, but I will take advice on whether it is prudent, appropriate and legal.

In relation to the other reviews, I will take on notice whether the forensic audit will be released. That is a matter which may well have some commercial-in-confidence elements to it, but I would have thought that there should be some public commentary on its results. As to whether the full report is released, that is something that I will consider once I have received it and once I have received the appropriate legal advice.

The honourable member talked about the 'other review'. I assume she was referring to the Richmond review of contract management. Again, I take the view that I will make public commentary about that and will release what is prudent, appropriate and responsible to do in the interests of transparency.

The honourable member asked me how many employees of Navitas have been referred to the New South Wales police. I must express some caution here. I have not indicated which company have had employees referred to the New South Wales police. I have indicated that there have been referrals to the New South Wales police. I would caution the House that we need to be careful about making broad and sweeping statements about who has been referred to the New South Wales police. It is a small number, but nevertheless they are obviously very serious incidents. Not all of them have necessarily been recent. Some of them were over a period of years some years ago, but nevertheless they are very serious matters. As I said to the House before, I am not in a position to update the House on the results of that police investigation. If I was advised by the New South Wales police then I would take steps to make that public, but it is now a matter for the New South Wales police as to how they deal with it.

So there are a number of matters there which I will take notice, and I will report back.

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