Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I should apologise to the CFMMEU as well, Mr Speaker, for any offence that I've caused them, of course! The reality is that we have cancelled record numbers of visas of criminals in our country who have committed offences against Australians. We've done that because we have the judgement to keep Australians safe. And, when you look at the decisions that have been made by those opposite over a long period of time by this Leader of the Opposition, he doesn't have good judgement—that is very clear. It's clear that he doesn't have good judgement. He's opposed for a long time the visa cancellation process that we have in place. He has opposed for the last three years the position that we took consistently to introduce minimum mandatory sentencing for sex offenders, and yet he folded this week at the 11th hour. And he's had shocking judgement when it comes to the important issue of keeping Australians safe by keeping our borders secure. The Leader of the Opposition has stood against Operation Sovereign Borders and the elements of that policy which have stopped people drowning at sea. He has no judgement at all. We've seen it play out this week as well in relation to the issues that are engulfing the Victorian division of the Labor Party. It continues on and on. His poor judgement is on display every day.

This government has made a decision now to cancel the visas of 249 offenders that have committed rape or sexual assaults, compared to 43 when Labor was in government. We have cancelled 510 visas for perpetrators of child sexual offences and those who have been found to have possessed child sexual exploitation materials. Compare that 510 to 97 during Labor's period in government. We will do whatever we can to keep Australians safe, but you need to make the right decisions. You need to have the good judgement to keep Australians safe, to keep our borders secure and to make sure that you can take care of Australian children. This man is not up to the task. (Time expired)

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