Stephen Bates (Brisbane, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I cannot believe we still need to say this in 2024, but immigrants and refugees are an essential part of the fabric of this country, and I am sick of the dog-whistling that is coming from the coalition. Any semblance of liberalism within the LNP evaporated last week and again this morning when the Leader of the Opposition used this place to call for an end to accepting refugees fleeing the war on Gaza. These are human beings we are talking about. They did not choose to be bombed. They did not choose to lose their families. They want the same as every person living here: to lead a life free of conflict and to find success and prosperity for themselves and their families.

So who is the dog-whistling from the LNP for? Well, it's for themselves. It's an attempt to distract from their bumbling incompetence in the New South Wales council elections. The LNP can't seem to fill out a form on time, so they've decided to throw communities of colour, refugees and people who have immigrated to Australia under the bus instead. It is sickening.

What we need is an asylum seeker and refugee system that is humane, decent and fair. We need to end offshore detention and introduce time limits for onshore detention so that people are not kept in eternal limbo. These are human beings, and it is well beyond time we treated them as such.

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