Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The Albanese government is getting on with fixing Australia's broken immigration system—a system broken by those opposite and no more so than when the Leader of the Opposition was the minister responsible. I'm proud to be working with my friend the Minister for Home Affairs to build a system that Australians can trust, helping us get the skills we need while bringing migration levels down to normal levels. We understand that competent and sensible administration of our visa system is something that is fundamentally important, ensuring that we remain an attractive destination whilst bringing migration levels down. We're doing that because of five actions the government has taken: closing COVID loopholes opened up by those opposite; strengthening integrity, unlike the former minister, who halved immigration compliance; ending settings that drive long-term temporary stays; tackling exploitation, which was another matter on which he sat on his hands; and targeting skilled migration so that we are addressing genuine shortages.

Martin Parkinson, the former Treasury secretary, described the 'absolutely and utterly broken migration system' as a reflection of 'almost a decade of wilful neglect', symbolised, as members opposite should recognise, by the one million visas in the in-tray when we came into government. Businesses couldn't get the workers they needed. Migrants and other workers were being exploited.

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