Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

This is very disappointing. My community really wants to see compassion when we are approaching asylum seekers. We had great hope and faith that that's what we were going to see. A number of times I've said to people in my community that I believe the minister is doing his best. Given his own personal history, I believe that he is driven by that compassion. Since then, that has really gone off. We got off to a good start, but since then we've seen mandatory sentencing and some draconian and knee-jerk reactions. I'm open-minded about the Migration Amendment (Removal and Other Measures) Bill 2024. Maybe it is needed. Maybe it is compliant with our international human rights obligations. I would approach this in good faith, but I first heard about it a few hours ago. I've had back-to-back meetings since then. I have one advisor. We are being asked to put this through today. This is too big an issue to deal with in this sort of time frame. This is about humans and their futures.

This morning, coincidently, we heard from some young people who have fallen through the cracks of our immigration system. We've seen their faces and understand that these are people's lives that we're dealing with. It's too big an issue to deal with like this. It also seems to me, from what I can see so far today, that it's not a new issue. The problem that we're solving here has been around for a long time, that there is a group of people who have no right to be in Australia but won't take steps to leave. This is not a problem that has appeared in the last week, and it doesn't seem like it needs a response within a couple of days. I find it very hard to see how this urgency is justified. It does not reflect on us well as a country if this is how we deal with really important issues that go to people's freedoms and right to live their lives.

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