David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

When the member for Berowra introduced a bill which was duly passed by this House and which gave the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship certain powers those powers were exercised in good faith in the knowledge that the parliament had supported the position—the course of action that was being taken. That had the democratic legitimacy of any act of parliament that passes through this place and the other. When a court takes a decision to overturn that, particularly on a question that goes to the heart of the ability of executive government to protect our borders, then it raises considerable questions for the executive in the first instance but also particularly for the legislature. The legislature has to come to terms with whether or not it intends to amend the legislation so that its original intention is to prevail. That is indeed what this government intends to do.

There is a whole range of excuses that are being offered by the opposition—and it has not yet made its decision— as to why it says it may not go down the path of supporting this government in its efforts to ensure that the executive government has the ability to take the necessary action to protect our borders. There are two wings within the opposition on this question: there is the wing of respectability, those that feel the need to make a respectable argument, and then there is that wing led by the Leader of the Opposition that simply says that this is a question of how best to wreck a government and the very institutions of governance, and that is what it is going about doing. The Leader of the Opposition came in here earlier this afternoon and said, 'It is not the responsibility of the opposition to get the government out of trouble.' I tell you it is the responsibility of the opposition and every single member of this parliament to act in the national interest. In the same way as the member for Berowra brought forward that legislation before a previous parliament, members on all sides—and on our side of the chamber back then—joined with the member for Berowra in passing that legislation.

Opposition members interjecting—

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