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

I thank the members for their questions. In relation to the member for Blair's question on the parent visa, I can confirm that the government has made a significant investment and we do want to provide support to people who can sponsor under this visa category. It is a bit rich, though, coming from Labor, and we see it in the House, where some ministers get asked questions and others do not—nonetheless, it shows the hypocrisy of Labor, having thrust us into significant debt. Would we want to do more? Yes. Would we want to do more if we had money in the bank, to provide further support to people? Yes, of course we would. But did Labor rack up an enormous amount of debt?

Have they blocked us from passing savings measures in the Senate? Yes. That is the reality of what we are dealing with here.

I think the most important point to make in relation to the member's contribution on that particular topic around the parent visa is the complete ignorance about the long-run cost, particularly around health in relation to some of these people. If he is going to go out and make uncosted assumptions and commitments then let us test that, because there is a very significant issue to be dealt with here, and that is in relation to providing ongoing support around health, and the costs otherwise that can be borne not only in the forward estimates but also into the out years in relation to welfare as well. There is a significant cost to these visas that is completely ignored by Labor, and that is reality in terms what we are providing for in relation to what, I think, has been a very well-received policy. We will continue to work with communities in relation to each of those matters.

I will deal also with the staffing issues raised by the honourable member opposite. It is the case that we found efficiencies in bringing the Border Force arrangements into place over the course of the last couple of years. Of course, we do not require the staff the Labor did, because we do not have boat arrivals. That is a very important point that seems to be lost on the member opposite. The most ironic part of that is that Labor is still tearing themselves apart in relation to this policy. They have not learnt one lesson and this is the difficulty.

I will go to this call centre issue, because it is quite interesting. In Labor's day they allowed two call centres to be operated overseas. The Labor model was outsourcing those jobs offshore. The decision I have made in this budget is to bring our call centres back domestically and to have Australians fill those jobs. I am not going to take a lecture from the Labor Party. We are filling those jobs with Australians. The call centre activity has been conducted offshore in two locations. I am stopping those two locations and we are going to run those services onshore. This is for a couple a couple of reasons: (1) because we can do it more efficiently here and (2) because we can increase the level of service if Australians, particularly elderly Australians, are having their calls answered and responded to in a more timely way by somebody domestically, who can answer their query.

In relation to the more substantive point made by the honourable member for Fairfax in relation to citizenship, we have done significant things in this space. We have answered the call from Australians who have said to us: 'We want to have a more rigorous process in relation to citizenship.' We do want to help people from around the world. Since the Second World War alone we have settled over 845,000 refugees. Millions of people have taken Australian citizenship. We are proud of the fact that we want to continue, into the future, to accept the best people. Through these tests, and through these changes, we continue that work.

I commend the member for Fairfax for his significant interest in this issue. I thank him for an excellent visit to his electorate last week where we were able to talk about substantial issues on the Sunshine Coast. His interest in making sure that the Sunshine Coast is a safer place for families and businesses to live and work deserves significant recognition and credit. In this place, his engagement with community groups across a broad spectrum is to be commended. I thank him, again, for the time we had together in Fairfax last week.

See this speech in context