Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

It is not possible for anyone on the other side of politics to claim that they did not have great visibility of these problems. What we saw while they were in government was almost a report a year, including one done by one of the junior ministers in the portfolio during the time that they were in office, which detailed the different issues that Christine Nixon found in her report. Now, the evidence was there. The opposition leader did nothing. Instead, he cut funding and made the problem worse.

Our government has a very different approach. We take these issues extremely seriously. That is why just over a week ago we came forward with a comprehensive set of policies that will help the Australian government do a better job of doing this. What was the response from the opposition leader when we came forward with these policies? We didn't hear contrition. We didn't hear any taking of responsibility. What we heard instead was a bizarre array of the seven stages of grief. Then we heard that he was either being accused of being too tough or too soft. That's not what we're accusing you of, Leader of the Opposition. What we're accusing you of is incompetence.

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