Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister comfortable with the government's decision both to permit Mr Raheem Kassam to enter Australia and to allow government members to share a public platform with him when Mr Kassam has made many extreme comments, including remarks about the Scottish First Minister that I'm certain he'd agree are both misogynistic and completely unacceptable?

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

) ( ): In relation to the question, of course, all applications to enter Australia are dealt with under the provisions of the Migration Act, and all non-citizens must meet the character test. For people who may hold controversial views, any impact of those views must always be balanced against Australia's well-established principles of freedom of speech, but I won't be making any comments about specific applications or cases.

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

The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Mr Speaker, on a point of order: the question also went to whether the Prime Minister's comfortable with government members sharing a platform with this bloke. So I—

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

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. Just again, for the information of those asking questions, the Practice makes it very clear: the Prime Minister can refer any question to any minister.

Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister inform the house how the Morrison government is demonstrating it's on the side of Australians by backing the choices they are making for themselves and their families, their communities and their future?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moncrieff for her question, and I congratulate her on her first, or maiden, speech in this parliament. The life experience and the skills that she has will make an enormous contribution in this place, and I congratulate her.

The Australian people made a choice that they wanted a government that believes in lower taxes not higher taxes. They made a choice that they wanted to be able to keep more of what they earned—that's the choice they made—and not just as individual taxpayers going to work every day but as small businesses going and doing the hard slog of taking risks and putting in businesses. They wanted and made a choice that they wanted a government that believes that taxes should be lower, not higher.

They made a choice that they wanted a government that knew how to put the conditions in place to create more jobs. And, after more than 1.3 million jobs being created in the first two terms of this government, they chose to see another 1¼ million jobs created over the next five years.

They chose that a surplus is what this government needed when it came to responsible financial management, and they chose responsible economic and financial managers who knew how to deliver surpluses. And we are now in the first year of surplus in 12 years.

They chose to have the services, the essential services, that they rely on; affordable medicines, 2,000 of them, listed on the PBS; record funding for hospitals and schools. They chose to have those essential services guaranteed—not by higher taxes but by a stronger economy and a government that understood that.

They chose that they wanted Australians to be kept safe and their borders to remain secure. That's what they chose.

They chose that they wanted Australians to get home sooner and safer. They chose that they wanted their kids to be able to buy a house and that the house that they owned would not be eroded by the reckless policies of the Labor Party.

They chose practical policies, realistic policies, that reduce our emissions and take action on climate change, without destroying the livelihoods of Australians all across this country with reckless schemes that the Labor Party could not even answer a question on as to what their impact would be on Australians' daily lives, their jobs, their economy and the cost to them. They chose to decide that they would make the consideration about what industries would be in their communities, and they wouldn't have people coming up in caravans from the south parading around North Queensland and other places telling them what jobs they could have and making them feel guilty about the industries that they have always depended on and will continue to depend on. They chose a government that knows how to keep the lights on and reduce power prices. (Time expired)

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Prime Minister, and it follows my previous question. Is the Prime Minister comfortable with members of his government sharing a platform at a conference with Mr Matt Gaetz, who invited a Holocaust denier to the 2018 State of the Union address by the President of the United States?

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

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

Members on my right! Members on my right, the Prime Minister has the call.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question, and I concur with the statements made by the Leader of the Government in the Senate in relation to that matter, which I'm happy to table.