Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

Today's GDP figures really put paid to any sense that the budget is working for Australians. As a matter of fact, today—in five quarters now—we've had a GDP per capita downturn. We have never had five GDP per capita downturns in the last 20 or 30 years. It shows that the budget is, sadly, not working, and it means people's real wages are going down while the cost of insurance, the cost of electricity, the cost of gas and interest rate payments continue to go up and up.

When it comes to the home affairs department, the omnishambles continues. We've seen, through the ministers being referred to on numerous occasions as 'hopeless' and 'hapless', that they are not across their brief at all. And there are serious questions that they need to answer in this debate today, during this consideration in detail. The home affairs minister needs to answer the question: is the ABF's drone fleet still grounded? She won't answer it in question time. She refers to estimates 12 months ago, when they did say it was grounded. It's a simple question. We need to know today, Minister: is the drone fleet still grounded? It's a very, very simple question. And we need to know if it's still grounded because it will help enlighten us a little bit on what the minister for immigration said about drones—he said they were flying above and monitoring the detainees, and then all of a sudden that proved to not be the case. So, that would help us no end.

I'd also like to hear from the Minister for Home Affairs and the minister for immigration: will the government's NOM target of 395,000 be met for this financial year? I'd love to hear from the home affairs minister that yes, that 395,000 target will be met. But I don't think we'll hear anything from them on that, because, as we know and as the Australian people know, we are getting nearly a million people coming into this country, during a housing and rental crisis, when people can't see the doctor, when congestion continues to grow in our cities. Yet it would seem that the forecast NOM, which has gone up and up, will continue to go up this financial year. So, will that 395,000 target be met, Minister for Home Affairs or minister for immigration? It would be really good to know the answer to that question.

On ministerial direction 99, which I'm sure the Deputy Speaker has heard about a few times now—I don't think any of us had heard much about ministerial direction 99, but I'm sure she's right across now—I'd like to know: when will it actually come into force? We're hearing that the minister for immigration will sign it sometime this week. What that new ministerial direction will look like, we're very interested to see. I'd then be very interested to know when it will come into force and what it will mean for the AAT in the next four to six weeks that we think it will take for it to come into force. And for the minister's delegate: will they have to continue to use the very flawed ministerial direction 99, which the government has had to walk back from and admit that they got wrong?

Another issue that I would really like to hear from both ministers on is the NZYQ cohort. We have been told in the parliament that they are being continuously monitored. Well, how? How is that continuous monitoring actually taking place? Can either minister confirm: when the roughly 25 per cent—or it might have been a little less—of those who have been released reoffended, were they being continuously monitored when they reoffended, and, if so, how were they being continuously monitored when they reoffended? I think the Australian people would dearly love an answer to that question.

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