Trent Zimmerman (North Sydney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection—and my sympathies to him and other Queenslanders in advance of tonight! Will the minister update the House on steps the government is taking to strengthen the requirements for Australian citizenship? Why are Australian values and the English language important? Is the minister aware of any alternative approach?

Dr Aly interjecting—

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

The member for Cowan is warned.

Ms Husar interjecting—

The member for Lindsay is warned.

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

Not that I am offended by that scarf, but Queensland by 10 tonight—no question! That was not as popular as I thought in this chamber. I thought we had plenty of Queenslanders here.

I want to say a couple of things in relation to the government's proposal around tightening-up of our citizenship laws—but it has not been a very good 24 hours for the member for Watson. As the Prime Minister pointed out before, things have not been very good for our friend, have they?

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

The minister knows the rules on props.

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

This is this morning's paper, which points to a couple of conflicting statements made by the honourable member opposite. We are trying to say to the Australian public through this debate—and we have asked for bipartisan support from Labor—that we want to make sure that Australian citizenship remains the cherished prize that it is. We want to make sure that people who are coming to become Australian citizens have a competent level of English proficiency. We want people to be able to integrate not only into their local communities but into schools and workplaces. We want them to be as successful as they possibly can be.

The trouble is that there is division across the Labor Party. What did they do yesterday? They came out with this red herring that somehow they were opposed to that plan, when we know that only a few short years ago the honourable member opposite was clearly in favour, as the Prime Minister pointed out before, of tougher English-language requirements. This is a red herring. They are not opposed to increasing the one-year permanent residency to three years before people can apply for citizenship. That is all a red herring.

The problem is that the same left-wing members of the Labor Party who are opposed to our boats policy are the people who are holding this Leader of the Opposition hostage on what is a perfectly commonsense approach that the government is taking. Do not take my word for it, Mr Speaker. Graham Richardson, writing in The Australian today, said:

Given that almost half the Labor caucus has serious doubts about supporting tough legislation on refugees and turning back the boats …

That was a quote from Graham Richardson. He defines the modern Labor Party—that is, that they are torn apart internally. They do not want the public to see it. The public had it on display, because we know that, when the member for Watson was the immigration minister, he was not very successful then either, as the immigration minister, because we know that 83 boats came on his watch and we know that 1,100 kids went into detention. So I would say to the Australian public: do not trust Labor when it comes to boats and do not trust Labor when it comes to national security. That is very clear. The Labor Party continue to tear themselves apart, and this Leader of the Opposition has no ability to show the leadership that is required in the office that he holds.