Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Riverina for his question. I'm asked the question: do we work through things in an orderly way? Yes, we do. Last week I was asked a question which suggested that common sense should apply to politics. Yes, it should. This is a rabbit hole which they insist on going down.

There are two issues here. One is citizenship. We put in place changes to make it easier for New Zealanders who have been here for a long period of time to become Australian citizens. More than 20,000 people have taken up that opportunity. That's a good thing. It's a good thing that people who have been here for a long period of time commit to Australia and become citizens. With regard to ministerial directions, direction 99 set a similar tone to that which applied under the Leader of the Opposition when he was Minister for Home Affairs. Direction 90, signed by then Minister Alex Hawke in 2021, talked of a higher level of tolerance for criminals who have lived in the Australian community for most of their lives. Direction 79, signed when the Leader of the Opposition was the senior minister, used the same phrase. So did direction 65, issued in 2014 by then immigration minister Scott Morrison. So there's nothing new in any of these things. In terms of—

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