Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

To the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, I will have to make some inquiries about the number and, in the appropriate time, will provide the Deputy Leader of the Opposition with the information she seeks. As the Deputy Leader of the Opposition would know, the question of visa cancellations is the subject of legislation and is the subject of the rule of law—that is, it has to be done appropriately and, if it is not done appropriately, then you end up in very difficult circumstances. I would remind the Deputy Leader of the Opposition of the difficulties encountered by the former Howard government in the cancellation of the visa of Mr Haneef. So you have to proceed on the basis of legislation and the rule of law. That is what the government always does.

I say to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition I do not believe that such a matter should be the subject of partisan divisions in this parliament. I would have thought, in line with what I just said about multiculturalism and the events of last night, that we could speak with one voice, that violence is always wrong—it is wrong if it happens on the streets of Sydney, it is wrong if it happens in a family home, it is wrong if it happens on Christmas Island. Violence is always wrong and the violence should be—

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