Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

There are two matters to which I think we can provide a response. The first is with respect to the statement I made earlier today, and that is that all of the matters that have been raised in recent days in the media have now been referred by me to the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity pursuant to section 18 of its act.

As I noted for the members' benefit this morning, in making that referral I'm simply saying there are sufficient concerns that have been raised to allow for that precautionary referral to the Australian commissioner for law enforcement integrity. He may decide to take further action by way of an investigation. He may report back to me that there is not enough in it to warrant a full investigation. But, clearly, that is the body that is best placed to make any investigation of the matters that have been raised in the media.

As to the broad nature of the issue that you raise, I can say that, with respect to the idea that there is some kind of favouritism or fast-tracking, there are systems in place—I say this representing the Minister for Home Affairs now—where a variety of passport holders, particularly referenced in the white paper on developing northern Australia, are themselves able to access and facilitate quick visa processing. There's nothing new in that. That's occurred on both sides of the House. But if there are any specific allegations that the member wants to make then perhaps he needs to make them.

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