Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Not even an hour ago here in the chamber we acknowledged former Liberal Premier Peter Gutwein, who had walked from Tasmania to Canberra to share an important message on behalf of the Migrant Resource Centre of Tasmania about being an inclusive, respectful country—a country where we recognise the great contribution of migration.

Former premier Gutwein said:

Australians from a migrant and refugee background contribute to every sector of the economy and community, and by sharing positive stories, we can build a deeper understanding that as Australians—regardless of colour, race, circumstance or background—we are simply, better together.

I, too, share a commitment to a strong, multicultural Australia where we benefit from all of the talents, insights and experiences of those who have chosen to make that country their home. Almost all in this place go to citizenship ceremonies, welcoming people from across the globe. It is what has made us an economic powerhouse. That was outlined in the Parkinson report, with the former secretary of Treasury noting the huge economic contribution migration has made. While there are large differences in views across this chamber about how that system should be managed, I want to note at the start of this important debate just how important migration is to Australia and how proud we should be of being a welcoming, multicultural nation.

I think it's why so many who rely on our migration system get so angry when they see just what a mess was created under the former government, just how inefficiently government resources—public resources—were being used and just how rorted our migration system had become. You only need to look at the headlines of what was said about the migration system when those opposite were in control. You had international investigations and a report in the Sydney Morning Herald which said, 'Crime ring trafficked women like cattle.' It reported on a global human trafficking syndicate that exploited flaws in Australia's border security system to enable a national illegal sex trafficking scheme in Australia. Under the watchful eye of the Leader of the Opposition, you saw reports of rogue agents offering fake visas for $500 a month. This was just happening. The government at the time apparently knew nothing about it, but maybe some of the cuts they made had a little bit of an impact there. You saw reports of repulsive abuses of human rights within a human trafficking system happening under the former government.

It wasn't just human exploitation happening at mass scale under those opposite; you also saw the migration system being completely rorted through close, personal relationships with Liberal ministers. You have one story where the headline is, 'The migration agent and the Liberal ministers: How one man gamed Australia's system.' He went to dinner after dinner and fundraiser after fundraiser, boasting of cosy meals with coalition ministers and donating more than $25,000 to the campaign of the former Liberal Assistant Minister for Home Affairs. That is what we had under those opposite. It goes on. We had the Albanian mafia infiltrating our visa system. One report in the Sydney Morning Herald about the system run under those opposite said:

Violent crime syndicates run by Albanian immigrants on temporary visas have so successfully exploited holes in the country's border security and migration system they are now challenging bikie gangs for control of Australia's lucrative cocaine market.

Again, that happened under those opposite.

We just had a speech from the shadow minister, the member for Wannon, talking about the release of individuals and the granting of visas. I want to note the Leader of the Opposition's record, which he proudly tells us about. We heard earlier that he was proud of his record as the former Minister for Health, which gave even some on that side a chuckle. But he also says he's proud of his time as the minister in charge of the Department of Home Affairs, when he released not 100—not 200, not 500—but 1,300 criminals from immigration detention. That included two men who had been convicted of being accessories to murder. The now Leader of the Opposition released 102 convicted sex offenders, among those 64 child sex offenders. There were 1,300 criminals released by the Leader of the Opposition on his watch. Those are decisions he and his delegates made.

Let's give a bit of flavour to the sort of people we're talking about, who were released by the Leader of the Opposition. We have one individual, born in the United Kingdom in 1947, who was convicted in 2016 of being an accessory to the stabbing murder of an associate of an illegal drug ring. He helped another man carry the victim's body to the boot of a car and dump it in a makeshift grave. He was released by the Leader of the Opposition. Another, born in the United Kingdom in 1945, was convicted in 1986 of being an accessory to murder when a drug associate shot another man in what was described as a gangland execution. Again, that individual was released by the Leader of the Opposition. And the standard the Leader of the Opposition set when he released these 1,300 criminals was that there was no electronic monitoring—not on a single one of them. Of the 1,300 criminals released by Leader of the Opposition, not a single one had electronic monitoring. There were no curfews and no other conditions. And there was no Australian Border Force or AFP operation to monitor them. We know that the Leader of the Opposition doesn't like being questioned about releasing these individuals.

We have been and continue to be a country that welcomes people who are fleeing war zones, fleeing conflict, and coming to safe havens such as Australia. I note that those opposite were strong supporters of that when 1,991 individuals from Afghanistan—at that point controlled by the Taliban—came here on visas. They also welcomed 4,994 individuals from Iraq and 1,505 people from Syria, with large parts of Iraq and Syria being controlled by Islamic State at the time. They were welcoming those individuals in because, again, Australia and our security agencies find a way to give people safe haven in times of crisis, something we should be incredibly proud of as Australians.

I did think it was interesting that the shadow minister for immigration, who put this MPI forward, was telling us about how he would like to clamp down on immigration. A colleague pointed out a very interesting piece to me. Just before the former government went into caretaker mode prior to the 2022 election, one of the last acts, one of the last announcements, by the member for Wannon as the minister for trade and tourism was to ensure a new visa pathway for Indian yoga teachers. He was so proud of the new visa pathway for up to a thousand yoga teachers that he put out a press release. They were the sorts of priorities they had. While he was out there putting out press releases about all the great visas he was providing, we had the absolutely broken system sitting beyond that. Maybe he should have spent a little less time on his media releases and a little bit more time on actually fixing the migration system.

The Parkinson report tells us just how broken it was—a '10-year rebuild'. This is not something you could do quickly, because it was so badly broken. It was a deliberate decision under those opposite to neglect the system. Then we get to the rorted visa system. We had the review by Christine Nixon, which noted that the visa system under the now Leader of the Opposition paved the way for foreign organised crime syndicates, including the Albanian mafia, to infiltrate the country and engage in illicit activities, including but not limited to drug trafficking, money laundering, violence, modern slavery, sexual exploitation and corruption. That's what happened on their watch.

Then there was the absolute mess when it came to offshore processing contracts, which required the Richardson review. That review noted that, again, under the now Leader of the Opposition, when he was the minister in charge of that department, there was a lack of proper due diligence. Individuals and businesses were suspected of seeking to circumvent US sanctions against Iran. We saw money laundering, bribery, drugs and arms smuggling into Australia, and, again, corruption—under those opposite.

I would hope that by the end of this MPI we'd have some clarity on whether those opposite take any responsibility for the mess they left, any responsibility for any of the 1,300 criminals that the now Leader of the Opposition released and any responsibility for any single thing that happened in any portfolio when you were in office.

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