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

There is something missing, and do you reckon that's the operative bit? Do you think it bells the cat on how the Prime Minister has misled the Australian people? Yes, it does. It bells the cat. The Prime Minister should have the decency to come back into this place and admit he got it wrong. He should have the decency to do it because he has misquoted Mike Burgess, the director-general of ASIO—someone who has spent his lifetime trying to do his absolute best to keep the Australian community safe.

If the Prime Minister hasn't got the decency to do that, then I think the standards that he is setting for this parliament are beyond the pale. We know he's happy to let his former immigration minister, who was responsible for the decisions to bring these people in on a tourist visa, to misquote him in this place and make sure that the Australian people are given false pretences about the processes that he followed when he released detainees into the community—many of them hardened criminals, murderers and child six offenders. We know he's happy to wave that by, but now he's happy to do it himself. It is an absolute disgrace.

If he's half decent, he will come in here and admit he got it wrong when it came to quoting the director-general of ASIO to suit his own purposes because he knows decisions have been made that potentially threaten the safety of the Australian people. (Time expired)

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