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

That is fair point, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, the Turnbull government, as you know and as every member in this place knows, is taking significant action to strengthen our citizenship laws, because, like any other country in the developed world, we want to make sure that people whom we welcome as Australian citizens are the best people that can become Australian citizens. The fact is that Australian citizenship is an absolutely extraordinary privilege. Obtaining citizenship should be more than just passing an administrative process or a test at a point in time. Aspiring Australians should demonstrate their commitment to Australian values.

It has been five weeks since the government made this announcement, yet we have still not heard from the Leader of the Opposition as to what his position would be in relation to this fundamental change in government policy. Mr Speaker, what has become evident over the course of the last five weeks is that, on a fundamental issue, you would have thought the Labor Party could unite, but they have not. What is evident is that, just like their boat policy, we can see on this policy that the Left and the Right of the Labor Party are completely divided. And you have seen games being played on the front bench of the Labor Party over the course of the last few weeks, and it is clear in this debate that the member for Sydney and the member for Grayndler—

Mr Watts interjecting—

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