Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday I was asked to present to senior public servants about what makes good policy and what I want as a legislator. I said, 'What I need from good policy is that it's evidence based, that I can consult my community, that I can engage stakeholders and that I can assess the policy on its merits. Today we have been given absolutely none of this. We have not been given the evidence. We have not had a moment of time to talk to our community. And the stakeholder engagement has been absolutely cursory because we've basically had three hours in which to consider this legislation. It is an absolutely impossible way to pass wideranging and profound legislation.

This legislation goes to people's lives. It goes to people being locked up in prison, and it has the potential to impact tens of thousands of people. That's a profound responsibility that we in the House hold in this piece of legislation, and it is unacceptable to have so little time to consider it. I absolutely acknowledge the need to have a way to remove the people who do not have the right to live in Australia, but this is not the way to do that. I know the government knows better than to behave like this.

In the last few days in this parliament I heard the government complaining about the crossbench not being fair about the work that they do or assuming negative intent. And, honestly, when the government pushes through legislation, as they are doing right now, it is easy to see why we can become cynical in terms of what is being done.

This legislation could have a profound impact on people's lives. It should not be passed in this way. The opposition is being absolutely disingenuous by not supporting a motion for adjournment on this, because they know full well that that would be the most appropriate thing that they could do at this time: to hold the debate until everyone can consider the legislation properly. But they haven't done that. It's just of great concern, on both sides.

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