Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker, but I'll take that interjection. The reason the coalition opposed the Pacific engagement visa is that they 'want to keep Australia safe'. So are they suggesting migrants from the Pacific who go through all relevant police checks are a risk to Australia? That just demonstrates their attitude to the Pacific and how they stuffed up the relationships. If they really cared about keeping Australia safe, they would know that it's critical that we be the partner of choice in the Pacific and that we have a position where we're strongly supported in the Pacific region. Instead they dog-whistle and put petty politics ahead, and the Pacific engagement visa is exhibit 1 in that. Quite frankly, the shadow trade minister's response to my statement, in which he talked about keeping Australia safe by keeping Pacific migrants out, is a demonstration that they are unfit to govern, cannot be trusted with national security, cannot be trusted with putting the national interest first and cannot be trusted with government full stop.

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