Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Migration Amendment (Character Cancellation Consequential Provisions) Bill 2016. In 2014 the Australian government put forward the Migration Amendment (Character and General Visa Cancellation) Act to strengthen the character and general visa cancellation provisions in the Migration Act. This has ensured that noncitizens who commit crimes in Australia or pose a risk to the Australian community are appropriately considered for visa refusal or cancellation. This migration amendment bill builds on our successes since 2014 and includes further amendments. I will touch on these amendments in a moment, but I want to first explain the importance of what we are doing.

From day one, since we came to government in September 2013, we promised the Australian people a strong, prosperous economy and a safe and secure Australia, and that was very important. It is one of government's primary obligations, of course, to protect Australian citizens and ensure that we keep Australia safe. You will know that we stopped the boats; we stopped illegal immigration into Australia. We increased defence force spending, and we have strengthened anti-terrorism laws, and all these things are very important. In relation to the boats, we know that the Australian people were very clear at the last election, after 800 boats carrying 50,000 people had arrived due to the cancelling by Labor of the Pacific Solution. It caused chaos in our community. It really galvanised people in support of having sovereignty over our borders. And since we have been able to stop the boats and the drownings at sea and so forth, we have now been able to take legitimate refugees, and we have announced some 12,000 from Syria who will be allowed to come in. These are people who are fleeing for their lives. One thing I know is that the department and the minister ensure that there is proper security and health checks.

We have also increased defence spending, which had almost $16 billion ripped out of it in the six years leading up to 2013. It is very important that the men and women of the Australian Defence Force have the adequate equipment and hardware to ensure that we are cutting-edge, that we play a leading role in Asia, and we want to have the best defence force locally. Our 2015-16 budget delivered on our promise to grow rather than cut the defence budget.

I had the opportunity through the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program to visit Afghanistan in 2014 and meet some of the men and women in the Australian Defence Force who serve our nation. And I want to say very publicly here in this place that I thank them for their service—the men and women of the ADF who live in Petrie and in Brisbane and throughout Australia. I thank them for what they have done. It was really an opportunity for me, as someone who has never served in the ADF, to go there and see firsthand the great work that the men and women of the Army, the Air Force and the Navy do over in Afghanistan. In 2015 I had the opportunity to go to HMAS Stirling base in Western Australia and have a look at a submarine fleet and the frigates and so forth over there and to talk to many of the men and women in the Navy and thank them for the great job they are doing as well. I support the federal coalition government's commitment to continue to increase spending. It is very important.

Since our election the government has invested more than $22 billion in defence capability projects, and obviously new projects were announced in the defence white paper last week, which looks at how, for the next 10 years and beyond, we are going to adequately equip the ADF men and women with new hardware to make sure that we are cutting-edge in our region. We have strengthened anti-terrorism laws as well in the past couple of years, which is very important. We have passed new laws to strip dual nationals who have been convicted or suspected of terror offences of their citizenship.

And I must say, getting back to our refugee intake, that it is very important that we have those proper security checks and health checks. If you look at the flood of people who have come into Europe in the past 12 months or so, and the recent terrorist attacks in France, where it was reported that some of those terrorists came in with the flood of refugees, hiding amongst them, it just goes to show—and I know that people in my electorate want to make sure that legitimate refugees who come to this country are properly checked for both security and health. I know for sure that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, and the minister, are making that happen. So we have done a lot in the past couple of years to ensure that Australia has its sovereignty back in place and that we have a better equipped defence force and sovereignty over our borders.

The first responsibility of a national government is the safety and security of its people. In this migration amendment bill we are not talking about terrorists, but we are talking about the safety of Australian people in the electorate of Petrie and all around Australia—simple law and order. This bill will enhance the government's ability to address character concerns presented by noncitizens in our communities. This bill specifically introduces new removal powers, so noncitizens who do not appeal a cancellation decision in time or whose request for revocation is refused are required to be removed as soon as reasonably practicable. In my electorate I have many people who were born overseas. Regularly, every few weeks, I attend citizenship ceremonies in my electorate of Petrie. I have people from all over the place who have moved into Australia and become Australian citizens, which is great, but many of them are just living here on a permanent basis and are not Australian citizens. Those who have become Australian citizens are from places like South Africa, New Zealand and other parts of Africa. There are many Europeans as well. They are playing a great role in contributing to the Petrie electorate, and I thank them for it.

This bill also ensures that people who have committed serious crime or have been to jail do not have the opportunity to remain living in Australia. If they have committed a serious crime—whether it be murder, rape or some sort of drug dealing—they are the sorts of people that we do not want in this country. We do not want those people living here in our country, and this bill ensures that we have the opportunity to make sure that they are not able to stay here. I support that 100 per cent. The minister has the opportunity to look at each individual case as well, if there are particular circumstances where people may have reformed and might be able to stay and play a part here, which I think is important as well.

The bill ensures confidentiality of information to ensure confidential information critical to decision making under the new character cancellation provisions receives the same level of protection currently afforded to confidential information relating to other character provisions in the Migration Act. It demonstrates this government's clear and continuing commitment to ensuring that noncitizens who pose a risk to the Australian community are dealt with effectively and efficiently. I know that the Australian people, and particularly the people in my electorate, support this 100 per cent.

It was reported in the Herald Sun on 9 March 2016 that, under the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection's watch:

More than 1000 foreign-born residents, including bikies and organised crime figures, have been ordered out of Australia in the past 15 months.

These 1,052 people 'failed to meet minimum character requirements under migration laws'. This is very important. It gives the government an opportunity to determine that, if foreign-born residents who are not Australian citizens are involved in illegal gangs or crime, they are not welcome here. They are not welcome to stay here and they will be deported. That is very important. The article continues:

Italian crime figure Francesco Madafferi has also lost his residency status and will be deported, as will a former Iraqi refugee after a criminal case against him relating to a $6 million drug smuggling ring is concluded.

As Minister Dutton said:

There is no greater responsibility of any government than to protect the community. The public is acutely aware of the criminal threat that outlaw motorcycle gang members pose. They are violent thugs that peddle drugs and misery for a profit, and Australians are sick of it. If foreigners come to our country, join bikie gangs and commit serious crimes and think they can remain here, they are wrong.

He is absolutely right, and this has the support of the people who I speak to in the Petrie electorate. We do not want people coming into this country who break the law or do the wrong thing. It is a privilege to live in Australia—an absolute privilege. If people are going to break the law it gives the minister and the government of the day the opportunity to send them packing. Let us be clear about that: you will not be welcome to stay if you commit a serious crime. It is a privilege to live here.

I want to thank all the people in my electorate who obey the law and do the right thing. It is not just the people who are born here but the migrants who have come here—and attend those citizenship ceremonies that I have been to—who play a wonderful role in our community. They are raising their families, going to work, getting involved in the community and volunteering. There are so many good people whom I meet at those citizenship ceremonies, and I thank them for it. But we do support this bill, in particular, and I thank the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection as well as staff from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection for enforcing these policies. We thank you for your public service and so do the Australian people. I thank the minister for the work on this bill, and I commend the bill the House.

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