Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Will the minister update the House on the action the government is taking to protect Brisbane families—and, indeed, all Australian families—from dangerous noncitizens, including criminal gang members? And is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I say thank you very much to the member for Brisbane, and, like all members on this side of the House, he can be assured that, through the actions of this government, we are making communities across the country safer. We went to the last election saying that we would secure our borders, because if you cannot secure your borders you cannot provide security and safety to Australian families. This government stopped boats. We stopped drownings at sea. We stopped people going into detention, including children. There were 17 detention centres that we closed. And we cleaned up Labor's mess.

Labor is still divided and dysfunctional when it comes to border protection policy—and, indeed, when it comes to immigration policy. They presided over a failed program. We have restored integrity to that program, and this government will continue to make the tough decisions that are in the best interests of our country. We will make decisions that will make Australians safer. For example, I have cancelled the visas of over 2,000 noncitizens, which, over the course of the last two years, is up by 1,200 per cent in the case of visa cancellations and 425 per cent in relation to refusal on character grounds for those visas to be issued.

As to the Labor Party, when it was in government, there are members on this front bench of the Shorten opposition that were issuing visas to outlaw motorcycle gang members when they were ministers for immigration in the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years—the 'glory years', as the Labor Party refers to them; the glory years of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd period! We have cancelled the visas of 138 noncitizens who have been involved in outlaw motorcycle gangs. Why have we taken that stance but the Labor Party did not? We know that the CFMEU and other unions use the bikies, to this very day, as muscle on building sites, to bash carpenters and to bash tilers, because that is the way the CFMEU do their work, and the CFMEU donates millions and millions of dollars to this Leader of the Opposition and this Labor Party. And the fact is that the CFMEU owns and operates, to this very day, the Australian Labor Party. The Australian public will not forget this at the next election. But we have picked out those bikies because we are not interested in seeing them employed in illegitimate industries—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection will resume his seat. The member for Moreton on a point of order?

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Speaker. I draw your attention to standing order 90, 'Reflections on members', and I would suggest that the minister is going very, very close in terms of suggesting an improper motive—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Morton will resume his seat.

Mr Robert interjecting—

The member for Fadden will leave under 94(a).

The member for Fadden then left the chamber.

Mr Khalil interjecting—

The member for Wills can join him in a second. Just before I call the minister, I agree with the member for Moreton: he is going close, but he is in order.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was the idea, Mr Speaker—thank you very much. The point here is that the outlaw motorcycle gangs in this country are the biggest distributors of ice and amphetamines. They are involved in extortion and they are involved in criminal activity, which includes criminal activity on building sites. The Australian Labor Party has nothing at all to say about that, and it is a complete and utter disgrace. This government is not going to be deterred on our mission. We are going to continue to cancel those visas, and I would welcome the Leader of the Opposition's— (Time expired)