Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the release of the Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia's Visa System on 4 October 2023, which found:

(a) abuses of sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and other organised crime in Australia's immigration system;

(b) significant gaps and weaknesses in Australia's visa system; and

(c) criminals routinely abusing Australia's visa system;

(2) notes that the problems identified in the report are systemic and will take time to fix, but commends the Government's commitment not to turn a blind eye to the exploitation of Australia's visa system by:

(a) increasing resourcing by $50 million;

(b) establishing a new division within the Department of Home Affairs to re-prioritise immigration compliance and protect the integrity of the visa and migration system;

(c) strengthening fit and proper person assessments for registered migration agents (RMAs);

(d) improving the ability of the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) to sanction unscrupulous RMAs;

(e) providing a stronger framework for the OMARA to address criminality in the migration advice industry; and

(f) increasing financial penalties for providing unlawful immigration assistance; and

(3) condemns the Leader of the Opposition for overseeing a migration system that was used to facilitate some of the worst crimes in our society.

The community I represent is a mosaic of cultures, backgrounds and stories. It's a community that reflects what makes Australia great. It's full of diversity and displays a distinct Australian multiculturalism. Every street in my electorate has benefited from the contributions of migrants who chose Bennelong and Australia as their home.

In this dynamic and multicultural community, our nation's migration system reverberates far beyond the discussions in this chamber and the words written in legislation and regulation. Our migration system changes lives. It impacts our neighbours, our friends and our family members. Sixty-six per cent of my electorate had one or both parents born overseas. Migration matters to modern Australia, and we know that a broken migration system impacts upon electorates like mine the most.

The revelations uncovered by the Nixon review into migration are as confronting as they are infuriating. Our migration system should never operate like it did ever again. The Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia's Visa System paints a stark picture of a broken immigration system, a system that was left to rot by the Leader of the Opposition in his former role as Minister for Home Affairs. The review revealed a deeply flawed system that allowed criminal gangs from around the world to exploit vulnerabilities in the system for their benefit and, tragically, at the expense of genuine migrants who would have otherwise reunited with their families or filled much-needed skills shortages. When Labor came to government, there were nearly one million visas waiting to be processed. The department had been deliberately neglected, understaffed and ignored. Nearly one million visitors, students and skilled workers were left in limbo waiting for the word that they'll be reunited with their families. Families left apart, businesses short of skilled workers, humanitarian visas piling up—this was a byproduct of the neglect of the Leader of the Opposition.

Under his administration, the system wasn't geared for the people; instead, it was geared for criminals. As the report identified, criminals exposed grotesque abuses of our migration system. Grotesque. The gravity of this situation cannot be overstated. We had a system that allowed rings of women to be caught in sexual slavery within our own country, a system that essentially designated migrant worker exploitation as a feature rather than a flaw and a system that turned a blind eye to the systemic breakdown of immigration compliance and genuine visa processing. All of this occurred under the Leader of the Opposition's watch when he was then Minister for Home Affairs. The member for Dickson stood up in this place for the last decade, beating his chest about being tough on borders. He'd then go on talkback radio and portray himself as a border patrol cop on the beat, a tough guy on immigration, boasting that he was keeping Australia safe from illegal arrivals. Yet now we know that all he did was oversee a system that was falling apart. Under his watch, there was nearly a 50 per cent reduction in the number of compliance officers in the nine years to 2022-23. Under his watch, criminals were left to abuse Australia's visa system. Under his watch, criminals exploited the most vulnerable. The migration system was used to facilitate some of the worst crimes in our society against those who needed our support and protection the most.

Yet, unlike him, the minister and the government will not turn a blind eye to the exploitation and negligence of people and will not turn a blind eye to genuine people who want to call Australia home. While these problems are systemic and will take time to fix, the government's response to the Nixon review demonstrates our commitment to cleaning up a mess left by the Leader of the Opposition. Australians deserve a migration system that works for them—one that is fair, one that prioritises skill migration, one that brings families together. We deserve a migration system that serves our national interests, not the interests of criminals. This review will also enable the government to weed out the cowboys in the migration industry, one that is long overdue. I commend the motion to the House.

See this speech in context