Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

We're talking about weaknesses in the government, in this matter of public importance today. To me, the weakness seems to be management, and management comes from the top—from the boss.

When we're talking about weaknesses in this Prime Minister, I think it starts with letting down the Australian people on the economy. That's the first weakness that we've seen on display. There are many other weaknesses, and I will get to the border security weaknesses and the 'failure to keep our community safe' weaknesses, but it is about weaknesses and management because, after two years of 'hard Labor', every single Australian has been impacted directly by their failure to manage our economy and their weakness in managing it. We've had 12 interest rate increases and Australians are now staring down the barrel of a 13th. Small and family businesses are shaking in their boots because the price of groceries is up by 11 per cent, housing by 14 per cent, rents by 13 per cent and electricity by 20 per cent. All of these are weaknesses in the ability of the Prime Minister and the Treasurer to manage our economy and to help Australians.

There's a very long shopping list of weaknesses for this government. When it comes to the biggest and the most expensive failure of this government—and weakness of this Prime Minister—it is the abject failure of this government to do everything it can to keep Australians safe. Criminals have been let out of detention because of blunder after blunder by the minister for immigration, the home affairs minister and the Prime Minister. The buck stops with them. This immigration minister and his boss should be let go. They shouldn't be able to keep their jobs after letting hundreds of criminals out.

They don't actually know where they are. Only half of them are wearing ankle bracelets. They are putting Australians' lives at risk, and they have taken Australians lives. A serial rapist attacked 25 women and a child. Police said that there was some of the worst child abuse material in the world. A convicted rapist's drug fuelled attack drove his victim into a spiral of self-harm and homelessness. And now, just this afternoon, out there in our community, there are three more criminals spared by a direction 99 from this minister and from this weak Prime Minister. Two of them are child sex offenders who are out in our community, running around committing heinous crimes against Australians.

This is life and death. These situations that the Prime Minister and his hapless minister for immigration have delivered to the Australian people have caused harm to Australians due to the incompetence and the chaos of this government, and Australians can see through that. No-one who is responsible for these statistics, these lives, these crimes should keep their jobs. Enough is enough. This weak Prime Minister has to grow a spine and sack these ministers. The first and primary responsibility of our government is to keep our community safe. Australians know we have a weak Prime Minister at the helm who will not stand up for the Australian community. We have a hapless immigration minister and a failing home affairs minister who have failed and have rained down terror upon the Australian community, with heinous criminals—hundreds of them—running around the streets, and they have no idea of where at least half of them are.

Australians are sick and tired of this government. It's time that the Prime Minister stood up and, with regard to his ministers, made a stand and sacked both of them. It's a disgrace. Australians across our community are worried about their personal safety as they go about their daily business. As they go about dealing with their bills and all the rest of what they have to deal with, what are they thinking about in the back of their mind? They are thinking about their personal safety. They are thinking about those whom we are thinking about in the coalition: those who have lost their lives due to this failing immigration minister and this weak Prime Minister.

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