Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak on the Migration Legislation Amendment Bill (No.1) 2014. This is the continuation of the coalition government's commitment to the Australian people to restore integrity to Australia's migration system and to ensure the security of Australian borders. As the member for Kingsford Smith said, it is quite a technical bill. It goes to a whole lot of detail, and I will not regurgitate it all, since it is in Hansard, but there are elements that need to be mentioned. The bill amends sections 48, 48A, 501E of the act so that they can be correctly applied according to the policy's intention. It ensures that a pending bridging visa application cannot be used to prevent removal, thus limiting the ability of some of the detainees to frustrate the removal process. It applies the debt liability provisions of the act to all convicted people smugglers and illegal foreign fishers—as the member previously said. It clarifies the process and requirements relating to the receipt of documents by an authorised recipient from the Migration Review Tribunal or the Refugee Review Tribunal. It clarifies the role of the authorised recipient and the requirement to notify them of any direct communication that the department may have had with the person who appointed them. It allows for the access and the use of material and information obtained under a search warrant issued under the Crimes Act 1914 by the department for duties under this and other acts. It sees that the procedural fairness requirements prescribed in this act apply universally to all applications. Finally, it repeals any reference to section 14 of the Electronic Transactions Act 1999.

Before I continue in this debate, I would like to talk about the success and the reason why we are here today in this particular context: fixing up Labor's mess on migration. Let us understand that, when John Howard left office in 2010, there were four people in detention as a result of having come via boats. When he handed over, that was the situation. When the Labor Party handed over—the people booted them out essentially, because they could not control our borders—we had something like 30,000 people displaced in the Australian community without their visa status assessed. We had something like 15,000 people in detention in places like Christmas Island, Scherger and Curtin, or they had been released into the community because they were deemed not to be of any conflict.

I have to congratulate the now Minister for Immigration, Scott Morrison, for what he has done in this area. He had one of the biggest challenges, because everyone knew that John Howard stopped the boats and stopped the illegal trade of migration, but after six years it was a case of—and the media were very responsible for saying this—'Well, it's different now. It's gone too far. You can't stop it. It's entrenched. The people smugglers have got the upper hand.' When Kevin Rudd became Prime Minister, he found a solution to destroy a successful outcome in terms of protecting our borders. I am particularly appalled that the first minister for migration, under the Labor Party, was a Western Australian. His name was Senator Chris Evans. Senator Chris Evans was the one who turned the green light on. The green light essentially said, 'If you can get to Australia, you will get a visa. If you get to Australia not only will you get a visa but you will get somewhere to live, you will essentially get paid and your kids will go to school. If you stay long enough, you will get a permanent visa.' What sort of green light is that?

Let's have a look at Lampedusa in Italy. Dare I talk about Italian connections? Boats are sinking off Lampedusa because the Africans have now realised there is a porous border solution going through Italy. Before you ask, 'How would you know?', I went to Italy. I went to Sicily and other places where there are detention centres. I went there and talked to the Africans who were in detention. They basically said, 'It is the same story. All we have to do is get on a boat and Italy will take us.' When I went to another detention centre in Rome, I asked the policeman who was showing me around the detention centre, 'Why don't you try to stop these people and send them back like we do?' This was at the end of the John Howard year. He said, 'I'm sorry, signor. We are the land of the Pope. We don't do that.' In other words, he was saying they have a soft and open heart. But what the Italians do is send them north. They take them into the detention centres and give them money to go to Germany, Denmark and other northern European countries that have decided they should open their borders as well. You can see what is happening in France as a result. So thank you very much, Senator Chris Evans, for what you did.

He was followed by the member for Gorton, then the member for McMahon and then, finally, the member for Watson. They all presided over the disgraceful situation which allowed people to come to Australia unbridled. As I said, those people are now sitting in the Australian community. Remember when Kevin Rudd said, 'We are going to put a moratorium on Afghans and we are not going to process them'?

See this speech in context