Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

Australia is truly one of the best multicultural nations in the world. Australia proudly celebrates its multiculturalism, recognising the contributions of its diverse communities to every aspect of society. In my electorate of Wannon, we are no different. We have people who have come from right across the world who are all making a significant contribution to my wonderful electorate. Right across the board, we're seeing more and more of the diversity and the multiculturalism that makes us such a wonderful country, whether it be the Islamic community in Ararat, the Dutch and New Zealanders who are adding to our dairy community or the Indians and the Thais giving us those wonderful flavours right throughout our restaurants.

But it's sad to see what those in government are now doing when it comes to immigration. It really is sad to see. I find it extraordinary that in bringing this motion forward they seek to criticise us for the neglect of the immigration system when that is exactly what they are doing themselves. The Nixon review is mentioned here. The government sat on the Nixon review for eight months. It was such an important review and they sat on it for eight months, and they've done nothing when it comes to implementing it.

I can tell you that the proof is in the pudding when it comes to this because 23,000 asylum seekers came to Australia by plane in the last year, and the government just sat there and said, 'There's nothing we can do about it, but we've got the Nixon review, which we sat on for eight months.' They have done nothing with it. They're talking about visa processing. They processed visas, and all of a sudden they realised we've got a problem: 1.6 million people are coming to this nation over five years. Everyone just says 'Where are they going to live?' They have brought in more people than live in the city of Adelaide. Has the housing caught up? No. So what do we have now in this country? We've got a housing crisis, we've got a rental crisis and we've got a cost-of-living crisis—and what is the government doing to try and deal with all that? Nothing. They are not doing anything to address those issues. They are sitting on their hands and saying, 'It's all too hard.' They don't have a plan. A big Australia by stealth will not deliver for this nation. What do we on this side want? We want a better Australia, not Labor's bigger Australia, because you haven't done any of the planning. There is a rental crisis in this country. There is no rental availability, and yet what is the answer of those opposite? Nothing. They're just putting more and more pressure on everything and saying, 'It is all too hard.'

They're talking about visa backlogs. I can tell you the visas are backing up again. What is the government doing? The government is saying, 'The only way we can slow down and try and fix our mess is by not processing the visas.' That is what they're doing, because they've got no other way now to deal with the mess that they have created. It is what always happens under Labor. Labor makes a mess of immigration—and I haven't even started yet on what has happened. Two boats have now arrived on the coast of Western Australia. What is the Prime Minister's response to that? He said, 'No-one called me to tell me they had arrived.' What a load of nonsense.

We've got the detainee debacle of 149 hardened criminals, including seven murderers and 37 sex offenders, all released into the community, and the hapless and hopeless immigration minister has no idea where they are. He will not tell the public where they are. He won't even tell the public what they're doing in terms of monitoring them. There is huge community concern, and those opposite really couldn't care. Stop playing politics and get on and do your job.

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