Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Central to the Minister for Home Affairs' defence is that he receives hundreds of requests from members of parliament and from senators to intervene in individual cases, and that's all he did in the case of the two or three au pairs. What he misses when he gives that defence is the fact that those hundreds of requests for intervention are genuinely for people on humanitarian grounds. There is no way in the world that the Minister for Home Affairs can lean on the defence that the intervention in the case of the au pairs was on humanitarian grounds. That is patently bunkum. And how offensive is that to all of those who care about the people who are locked up in our overseas gulags on Manus Island and Nauru? How offensive is that? How wrong is it for the manager of government business to defend the Minister for Home Affairs by saying, 'He's kept us safe,' and we don't want to keep us safe. Of course we want to keep us safe, but we also want to act like a legal country, with integrity.

It is outrageous that there have been countless children now who have been desperately sick and the Minister for Home Affairs has refused to have them brought to Australia, and it's been left to the Federal Court to issue orders to bring those people to Australia. On one hand, it's okay to be intervening on humanitarian grounds for au pairs to come to this country, but it's not okay for the minister to intervene in numerous cases. For example, just this year the Federal Court issued transport orders for a 10-year-old boy on Nauru who attempted suicide three times and needed surgery. The Federal Court had to order the repatriation to Australia of a young girl who attempted suicide three times on Nauru. The Federal Court had to intervene in the case of a 14-year-old girl who doused herself in petrol and set herself alight on Nauru. The Federal Court had to intervene in the case of a 17-year-old boy who suffers from psychosis and needed to be reunited with his mother. The Federal Court had to intervene in the case of an adolescent girl suffering major depression and traumatic withdrawal syndrome. The Federal Court had to intervene in the case of a critically unwell baby. The Federal Court had to intervene in the case of a 12-year-old boy on Nauru refusing fluid and food for nearly two weeks. The Federal Court had to intervene in the case of a 17-year-old girl on Nauru refusing all food and fluid and diagnosed with resignation syndrome. The Federal Court had to intervene in the case of a 12-year-old girl on Nauru who has attempted suicide several times, also setting herself on fire. The Federal Court had to intervene in the case of a 14-year-old boy on Nauru, suffering major depressive disorder and severe muscle wastage after not getting out of bed for four months. But the minister says it's okay to intervene in the case of two or three au pairs on humanitarian grounds when we've got at least 30 children on Nauru who doctors say should be brought to this country for urgent medical attention. Then there's the case of all the people on Manus who are effectively detained there. It is a complete nonsense.

It's deeply offensive to all of us in this parliament when we're accused of being weak on national security. We're strong on national security but we're also humanitarians. When we go to the minister and ask him to intervene, it's for genuine humanitarian grounds, because we believe we should start acting like a law-abiding country, with integrity. There's no integrity in claiming humanitarian reasons for bringing nannies into this country for his mates once or twice removed. There's no integrity in that.

I'm happy to support this motion by the member for Melbourne. I will be deeply disappointed if there aren't some members of the government who will join us.

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