Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the amendment moved by the member for Melbourne. To be honest, I'm a state of shock. I think that we've seen a lot of things happen in the human rights space in this country over a number of years, but to find myself here today, as the member for North Sydney, having been briefed on a really significant reform to our human rights law in this country at 8:45 this morning, and then to be told that there won't actually be effective debate on it—that there won't actually be time for myself and others to consult with people outside this building to see what the implications are and that there won't actually be even an opportunity for myself and others to potentially scrutinise it to the level where we may be able to make suggestions under consideration in detail—is truly shocking. Truly shocking!

Our entire democracy is predicated on the basis that our communities send members here so that those members can be the voice for those people in this chamber. Debates like this are below this government. I expect better of this government, and I can say straight up that my community expects better from this government. Indeed, as the member for Melbourne made a very strong argument on, we saw Australians vote in a way they've never voted before at the last election. Fundamentally, they sent a message to one political party that had stopped listening to them for a very long time. Many Australians put their faith in the other major party, believing them on the basis of things that we had heard them talk about in their own public forums. There was the fact that they didn't support mandatory sentencing; the fact that they had a strong record in speaking from opposition about the importance of respecting and protecting people's individual human rights; and the fact that we knew them to be people of compassion, because we know where they come from—and I echo the member for Warringah's comments here, that I had the highest regard for the immigration minister, Minister Giles, in this place. But I do not understand how we find ourselves in this place and time in this chamber today.

It is not okay for the government to bring forward this piece of legislation, which will impact thousands of people currently living this country. Let's be really clear: I don't see how the legislation being discussed today can in any way meet our international human rights obligations. Australia is signatory to a number of international human rights treaties. Those treaties include the right to seek asylum and those treaties include that all asylum seekers should be treated equally under the law. Those rights include that every person's individual human rights should be recognised and respected. As I've glanced at this legislation this morning, I do not see those rights being respected and protected under this legislation.

I understand that the government is frustrated that there are thousands of people sitting in this country who have been here, perhaps in some circumstances, for over a decade now because they have been in the process of appealing a potential return to an environment that they believe is unsafe for them. But I say to this government: rather than trying to, as it was reported on Saturday, 'out Dutton Dutton', how about we actually look at these people for the humans they are—

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