Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I was referring, again, to cancellation of visas, and I made the very clear point that under our government the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs is responsible for visa cancellations. He is the one within the government who has responsibility. And it's true that I used to be the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and that one of the first issues that was brought to my attention was a certain Alex Vella, the president of the Rebels bikie gang. I cancelled his visa, and he's never come back to these shores. That started a long list of actions by our government to ensure that we did the right thing on visas.

When I cancelled Alex Vella's visa when he was away from Australia, ensuring that he could not return, it became very well known to me that this was a matter that authorities had been seeking governments to take action on for some time. I know for a fact that the former ministers for immigration never had the decision to take to cancel that visa, and nor did I. Do you know what I had to do? I had to ask for it. I said I wanted to see the cancellation papers for Alex Vella's visa, and so I took that decision. You on that side could have taken that decision. You didn't. You squibbed it. That's why Australians cannot trust the Labor Party when it comes to immigration and border protection. Australians can trust the coalition when it comes to—

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

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