Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

This is a very serious issue, so I am happy to take the question. My understanding from the Leader of the Opposition is there was in-principle support for what the government is proposing here. I presume from the member for Corio's contribution that the opposition is stepping back from that position. I think that would be regrettable.

There has been, in relation to a number of national security issues, some consensus between the government and the opposition. There has been no departure whatsoever in this debate from the government's perspective in relation to the process that has operated in relation to other bills, including national security bills. The normal course of action, whether it is the Liberal Party or the Labor Party in government, is that the bills would go to the caucus—or, in our case, the party room. The bills would go to the backbench committee, or whatever process Labor had preceding that, and then the bills would be introduced into parliament. At that time, there is consultation that takes place with the opposition. On advice available to me, that has been the standard process. Nobody is suggesting there should be a departure from that process. We do want to engage constructively with the opposition in relation to this matter. I am desperately concerned that, in the run-up to the Labor Party conference, sensible voices within the Labor Party will be drowned out by some of the more dramatic ones on the Left. I am sure the sensible voices sit opposite us. The difficulty in that environment is that it may drive the opposition to a position which is less than desirable.

This is a very serious bill that we bring forward with appropriate safeguards. We have said publicly, and I confirm it here again tonight, that the government's intention is to introduce the bill in this sitting fortnight. Nothing has changed in relation to that. Once the bill has been put into the parliament, my presumption is that it will be referred to the intelligence committee. There are Labor and Liberal members on that committee. I think that is an appropriate area for it to be referred to. We will provide briefings as appropriate to the honourable member opposite, as well as, I presume, to the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Attorney-General.

We are happy for that process to take place. But any suggestion that there has been a departure from that longstanding convention is quite wrong. We will provide the appropriate briefings at the right classification and at the appropriate time. That is what we will do because there is an absolute determination by the government to make sure that, where somebody is a dual citizen and they are a terrorist, we do not render that person stateless. All of those principles, for which the Labor Party have publicly stated their support, will underpin our approach. We will conduct ourselves accordingly with the opposition and that will be, I hope, a productive discussion. But there is no departure from the process that would normally be the case in relation to national security bills, I am advised.

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