Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted that those opposite, particularly the Leader of the Opposition, have decided to stand in this place and discuss the handling of migration matters as the matter of public importance. The reason I'm delighted is that it gives us a wonderful opportunity to review the record of those opposite when they were in government—specifically, the record of the Leader of the Opposition, who was then the Minister for Immigration and the Minister for Home Affairs. The record of the Leader of Opposition at that time was characterised by one feature, and that feature was tough talk and weak action.

Let's remind ourselves of some of the greatest hits of the Leader of Opposition when he was the Minister for Home Affairs. Everyone will remember that time as a time when he talked a lot about boat arrivals. He really worked hard to demonise refugees during those years.

Remember he bought the fancy new uniforms for the Border Force, the $6 million uniforms? Beautiful touch—fantastic touch! While he was talking tough, while he was buying those expensive new uniforms, he was so busy punching down that he forgot to look up.

At the time when he was the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, between 2014 and 2018, non-boat arrivals increased from 8,500 to 27,000. So busy was he with the new uniforms and looking out over the water that he forgot to notice a tripling of non-boat arrivals. At the same time, the number of visitor visa holders who contributed to net overseas migration increased from 50,000 to 78,000. There he was, punching down on the refugees who came by boat, all the while seeing a massive increase in unregulated migration.

The previous speaker accused this government of not being across the detail, and that reminded me of one of my favourite moments from the last month. That moment was when the Leader of the Opposition puffed himself up and came out swinging with a big accusation about this government. Speaking in Perth on 4 October, he said:

Why did they lose control of our borders … ? Why have they allowed 105,000 asylum seekers into our country over the last 15 months?

He underlined the point, saying, Labor 'presided over 105,000 asylum seekers over the course of the last 15 months'. Unfortunately, when the department and the former deputy secretary checked those numbers, it was revealed that 94,000 of them were let in under the watch of those opposite. That's 90 per cent of his claim of 105,000, brought in under their watch. What a gaffe. It's unbelievable that he's not across even the most basic elements of the detail of the policy in this area.

Let's remember back in 2019 when he was the home affairs minister. He created a backlog of more than 221,000 people waiting for citizenship applications. In fact, just a year earlier the situation was even worse. The Auditor-General said that in 2019 the citizenship applications pipeline was bogged down with more than 244,000 applications. That was a 15-year low in applications processing. He was unable to complete even the most basic elements of the management and running of that department.

It's no wonder that, while he was talking tough but doing nothing, the Nixon review found that Australia's protection visa system was allowed to be exploited by criminals. The Nixon review spoke of grotesque abuses characterised by human trafficking, organised crime and sexual exploitation. While the Leader of the Opposition was talking tough but doing nothing, the review revealed a range of disturbing practices that went under the radar under his watch. The review found that of all the migration agents used by people wishing to enter Australia, 40 per cent were unregistered. These are the basic elements of running the department of immigration: making sure we don't have a 15-year record backlog, making sure that migration agents are properly registered and making sure that you're watching the arrivals into this country from any source. He wasn't doing any of those things, because he was too busy talking tough, buying fancy new uniforms and demonising refugees—punching down while not looking up and not being across the detail. This is the characterisation of the Leader of the Opposition: he talks tough, but he does nothing.

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