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

They are law abiding and they are good, decent people. But the government have introduced changes which at one point were supported by the Leader of the Opposition, and now he's flipped his position and doesn't support what we're doing in relation to citizenship changes. Is it any wonder that the Australian people don't know where this Leader of the Opposition stands from one day to the next?

What we're proposing is very reasonable. We're proposing, for example, that we can make changes around the way in which the Administrative Appeals Tribunal can block decisions for citizenship and dangerous individuals. The fact is that the AAT has found that child rapists, murderers and drug dealers have been of good character and that they should be allowed to be granted citizenship. I'm sorry, but I think I talk on behalf of all members of this side of the parliament when I say that we do not agree with that opinion. If the law needs to be changed, it will be changed, and that's what we're proposing, but we are opposed by the Leader of the Opposition.

Again, on this topic, there was one point in time when the Leader of the Opposition supported this position, but again he has backflipped and has now adopted a new position. If you look at his history both inside this place and outside this place, that would come as no surprise to anyone at all, because he's not a person of consistent character, and he's not a person who can hold a position from one day to the next. No wonder the Australian people have a huge question mark over this Leader of the Opposition.

This government will make sensible changes around citizenship laws so that it can support the vast majority of people who would do the right thing. But we want to knock out those people who do not support Australian laws and who do not abide by the Australian way of life or integrate into the Australian community. The government is absolutely determined to get these laws through, with or without the support of this weak Leader of the Opposition.

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