James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This morning we had a situation where the government brought a fairly weak piece of legislation into this parliament to deal with a very serious, significant problem—a problem which all Australians are talking about and which all Australians are frightened of. Yesterday, the Prime Minister and the minister said that there was nothing they could do about a decision of the High Court. Miraculously, overnight, this weak lettuce leaf piece of legislation has been brought in an attempt to make it look like the government is doing something. But we on this side of the House want the government to actually do something. The piece of legislation that has been raced through this parliament goes nowhere near the community expectation of getting these dangerous people out of the community and away from vulnerable future victims.

One need only reflect on some of the crimes that have been committed by these people who are now roaming freely in and amongst the communities that we all represent. There are rapists, murderers and child sex offenders. These people should not be free and in our community, and we need to have laws in this country that protect Australians from these sorts of people. We all pray desperately that no-one will fall victim to these criminals that are walking the streets, but, at the moment, the risk is very high. This government needs to take it seriously. Instead of the ridiculous and pathetic piece of legislation that came through this morning, the government needs to bring in something with actual teeth that gets these dangerous people out of the Australian community.

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