Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move the following motion:

That the House:

(1) expresses its grave concern at the vicious rise of antisemitic vilification in our country, and the breakdown in social cohesion occurring in our communities;

(2) expresses its grave concern that social disharmony has reached dangerous levels, and that community safety is now at significant risk;

(3) condemns the Prime Minister's failure to show the strong leadership required to overcome divisions within his own caucus, to stamp out antisemitism and bring our country together;

(4) expresses its concern that community safety in this country has been further threatened by the release of more than 80 hardcore criminals from immigration detention into the Australian community;

(5) expresses its deep concern that this cohort includes individuals who have committed acts of child rape, murder, sexual assault, and other violent crimes;

(6) condemns the Government for catastrophically and demonstrably failing to prepare contingencies for High Court proceedings where it fully aware of the risks;

(7) condemns the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs for consequently undertaking an unprecedented and shocking mass release of dangerous criminal non-citizens into the Australian community; and

(8) therefore calls on the Prime Minister to:

(a) understand that his priority must be the protection of the Australian community at home;

(b) cancel his plans to travel to the United States;

(c) urgently convene a National Cabinet meeting to formulate a strong and coherent response to combat the rise of antisemitism, repair social cohesion and protect community safety;

(d) urgently bring forward any legislation necessary to neutralise the threat posed by the hardcore criminals his Government has released into the Australian Community; and

(e) amend the days and hours of sitting to facilitate the passage of such legislation prior to the rising of the Parliament this week.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Attorney-General will cease interjecting. Is leave granted?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a point of order, as I understand it, the Leader of the Opposition is asking for leave to move a question relating to the serious issue of a rise of antisemitism, somehow linking that to a decision of the High Court that was made last week, linking those issues—

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister is seeking clarification.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not have a copy of the motion, Mr Speaker.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The first thing we'll do, Prime Minister, is that you can complete your point of order.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was seeking clarification of the Leader of the Opposition's trying to mix the issue of social cohesion, antisemitism and a decision of the High Court relating to—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just pause a moment, Leader of the Opposition. The Prime Minister can come to his point of order. I can then ask whether the leave is granted. But I need to know what he's asking at the moment.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am seeking clarification here. I do not have a copy of the resolution. I would find it extraordinary if this Leader of the Opposition was overreaching so much that he is linking antisemitism with the decision of the High Court.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Resume your seat. Thank you, Prime Minister. Is leave granted? We'll just go through this.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't have it.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a copy of the—

An honourable member interjecting—

Order! To assist the House, if a copy can be provided to the—

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, if I have the call, I'm happy to answer.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bruce! The Leader of the Opposition is seeking leave to move the motion. The way this will work is that, if the copy could be provided to the Leader of the House, the decision can be made on that question.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, to assist you and to assist the House, I'm happy to provide a copy of the motion, but I'd appreciate from you an understanding of the precedent for such an act to take place. I have read out word for word the motion that I have put before the House. Under the standing orders, the longstanding standard practice of this House, practised by the Prime Minister when he was the Leader of the Opposition and a shadow minister in opposition, is that I can move a motion, which is what I've done. I have read verbatim what it is I'm proposing by way of this motion. The motion is seconded. The standing orders provide for you, Mr Speaker, as you're well aware, to ask whether leave is granted. That's the question before the House, and that is the question the Prime Minister refuses to answer. Has he got the guts to have the conversation or not?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. We'll just do this in a methodical way. On the point of order, the copy has now been presented to the Leader of the House. On the point of order—the Prime Minister, and then we'll move through the normal processes.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the point of order, it is actually the practical practice of the House that if a motion such as this is a simple motion it can be read out by leave. If there is, though, any genuine attempt by an opposition to have a government accept a leave motion, it is given to the government and then negotiated through how many speakers a side. So, on that basis, leave is certainly not granted for a motion that links antisemitism with the decision of the High Court.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is not granted. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've given the copy to the Clerk for a photocopy for the Prime Minister. To the point of order, though, to be very clear, there is no link between the rise of antisemitism and the High Court case. Let me be very clear about that. This concocted outrage by the Prime Minister demonstrates his weak leadership and his inability to debate a reasonable motion in this parliament.

Government members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Members on my right will cease interjecting. The member for Hasluck is warned. Leave has not been granted. There was far too much noise for anyone to hear anything. Copies of the motion have been circulated. I'm now granting the Leader of the Opposition the call to move as he sees fit.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Leader of the Opposition from moving the following motion immediately—

That the House:

(1) expresses its grave concern at the vicious rise of antisemitic vilification in our country, and the breakdown in social cohesion occurring in our communities;

(2) expresses its grave concern that social disharmony has reached dangerous levels, and that community safety is now at significant risk;

(3) condemns the Prime Minister's failure to show the strong leadership required to overcome divisions within his own caucus, to stamp out antisemitism and bring our country together;

(4) expresses its concern that community safety in this country has been further threatened by the release of more than 80 hardcore criminals from immigration detention into the Australian community;

(5) expresses its deep concern that this cohort includes individuals who have committed acts of child rape, murder, sexual assault, and other violent crimes;

(6) condemns the Government for catastrophically and demonstrably failing to prepare contingencies for High Court proceedings where it fully aware of the risks;

(7) condemns the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs for consequently undertaking an unprecedented and shocking mass release of dangerous criminal non-citizens into the Australian community; and

(8) therefore calls on the Prime Minister to:

(a) understand that his priority must be the protection of the Australian community at home;

(b) cancel his plans to travel to the United States;

(c) urgently convene a National Cabinet meeting to formulate a strong and coherent response to combat the rise of antisemitism, repair social cohesion and protect community safety;

(d) urgently bring forward any legislation necessary to neutralise the threat posed by the hardcore criminals his Government has released into the Australian Community; and

(e) amend the days and hours of sitting to facilitate the passage of such legislation prior to the rising of the Parliament this week.

The reality is that this Prime Minister has been missing in action—missing in action when the Australian people need him most. The Australian Prime Minister has one of the most serious charges in this country: that is to take care of the Australian people; to protect and to defend them; to make sure that, where threats exist, the Prime Minister utilises the powers at his disposal to deal with those threats, to neutralise them, and to keep our country and our people safe. And he fails at the first hurdle.

The dreadful attacks that we saw on 7 October in Israel resulted in terrorists—a listed terrorist organisation here in our country and in other countries in the West and other parts of the developed world, Hamas—going in and massacring people of Jewish faith. It was a disgraceful act and rightly condemned by both sides of politics. It has given rise to a discussion here in this country, in the United States and elsewhere in the world, and it has seen a significant rise in antisemitic behaviour.

I commend those members, one of them that I can identify, on the opposite side, for having the guts to stand up and to speak strongly in favour of the Jewish community and against those who perform provocative acts, calling Jews names that shouldn't be repeated anywhere, but saying: 'Eff the Jews,' and, 'Gas the Jews.' And this Prime Minister had a solemn duty—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Attorney-General will cease interjecting.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

to stand up and make sure that his government spoke with one voice. But did they do that? No. And what the Australian public has seen—and what has shocked the Jewish community in recent weeks, since 7 October—is that this government is speaking out of both sides of its mouth. Let's call it out for what it is. You've got Senator Wong in the other place, the foreign minister of this country, who is at odds with her Prime Minister. The caucus is split right down the middle. And the Australian public sees that this is a government where the wheels are quickly falling off. It's given rise to social disharmony in this country. There are Jewish kids who are afraid to go to school. We've got groups who are going into predominantly Jewish communities in our country to try and provoke them into a response.

And this Prime Minister is flying off overseas again, when he should be staying in this country to deal with the issue. 'What could I do?' he says. What could he possibly do about it? Well, Prime Minister, I've written to you, and what you should do is to consult with the premiers and the chief ministers and immediately convene a meeting of the National Cabinet, to get a better understanding of the police response and to understand what the security and intelligence agencies are providing, and then to collate that information and to have a coherent response which provides support and an underpinning to security for people of Jewish faith in this country, when they need it most, in their hour of need. This Prime Minister has gone missing.

I never thought that I would see, in my lifetime, a repeat of the horrific scenes which were seen, and that we've read about, during the course of the Second World War. But to see people of Jewish faith cowering in their homes, being dragged from cupboards out into the street—when children are still abducted and still held hostage, this Prime Minister needs to stand up and to be united with the Jewish community. And he's not. The words have been qualified, the message has been divided and the Australian public has looked to the Prime Minister and not identified this man compared to the man they voted for in May 2022, less than 18 months ago.

What compounds it is the fact that, in the last 48 hours, we learned that the hapless minister for immigration has taken a decision to release 83 hardened criminals—rapists, paedophiles, murderers; he won't disclose the rest of the detail—to live at large in the community with the Australian public, and he's done nothing about it. The government knew this case was being decided in the High Court. They have the benefit of the advice of the first law officer of this country, the Solicitor-General, and countless KCs at their disposal. The High Court had given indications in relation to this matter. A competent minister would have dealt with this matter by way of legislation at the first available opportunity, and he would have rushed that legislation through this parliament so as to prevent the 83 from going out into the community with the significant potential of committing more offences against the Australian public.

One primary charge, as I say, for this Prime Minister, is to keep the Australian public safe. There is legislation now being drafted; we saw in a trainwreck interview by the defence minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, this morning that there is legislation being drafted to address this issue. We hear from Senator Wong in the Senate today that there will be legislation introduced into the parliament. So we know now that, when the government have been called out and they're under pressure, there is actually a legislative response available; we now know that. Why is it available now but it wasn't available before the 83 were released into the community? The minister refuses to answer that question. It turns out that this minister has released these dangerous criminals into the community without a visa. Some of those have been left out, and you saw his evasive, tricky and incompetent responses today. Did the Prime Minister pull him into line? Not a chance, because this Prime Minister is as weak as water, and the Australian public are working out what a fake and a fraud he and his government have turned out to be.

The Australian public at the moment know that they've got a government who has made every situation in their lives more difficult. We know that the cost-of-living pressures are putting enormous pressure on families because the government has made incompetent decisions in two budgets. We now know that in many parts of the country Australians are suffering because of a crime crisis in their communities; we know that. How does this Prime Minister respond? He goes off overseas again. Prime Minister, don't leave this country until you have dealt with these issues. Don't hop on the plane again to the United States. You've just met with President Biden—an incredibly important relationship, but you've just met with the President. The first responsibility for you, Prime Minister, is to be here and take care of the Australian public. Don't continue to abrogate your responsibilities.

How can the government release 83 of the people who have significant criminal records and keep in detention nine when they are all subject to the same finding from the High Court? How can that be the case? How can you not have legal capacity or legal capability to keep the 83 in but you can to keep the nine in? Has this been explained by the Prime Minister? No, it has not. So the Prime Minister should not leave this country until the National Cabinet has been convened to provide assurances and support and comfort and safety to people of the Jewish community. That is the first priority for this Prime Minister—not to get on yet another plane and head overseas.

Prime Minister, don't leave Canberra and don't leave this parliament until legislation has been passed which will give effect to providing safety to the Australian people. What is happening is these people with significant criminal records, having committed significant rapes and assaults and murders against Australian citizens, are being released into the community, and you stand condemned.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():  Yes, the motion is seconded. The No. 1 priority of any government is to keep its citizens safe. We asked today three very simple questions of the minister for immigration. The first one was:

Can the minister advise the House whether any of the 81 hardcore criminals released into the community following the High Court's decision last week were released into the community without a visa?

No answer. The second one we asked was:

The ABC has just reported that following the High Court decision the government released some of the 80 hardened criminals—including murderers, rapists and child sex offenders—into the community without a visa. Is this true?

The minister refused to answer. We then asked:

How many hardcore criminals released from detention got a letter from the Department of Home Affairs which said they were being released as an unlawful noncitizen?

No answer.

What the minister has confirmed is that at least 12 of those detainees were released into the community without visas, and that goes against the assurances he gave to the Australian public on the weekend. This is what he said on the weekend:

Individuals who are required to be released as a result of the High Court's order will have appropriate visa conditions imposed on them in line with the need to protect the community.

That did not happen. The ABC has reported—you would not confirm it; you would not deny it—that people were released into the community without visas.

Minister, you said yesterday that you would stand up in this parliament or you would tell the Australian people how many of those hardcore criminals were rapists, were child sex offenders, were murderers. You haven't provided that information to the Australian public.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order. I'll get the member for Wannon to direct his comments through the chair.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Speaker. Minister, you said—

Government members interjecting—

Sorry. The minister said that he would provide that information. The minister said he would provide the information to the Australian people. He has not provided it. The Australian people do not know where these hardened criminals are. He has given no assurances whatsoever to the Australian public about what the conditions are on those visas. He has given no assurances to the Australian people as to what would happen if there were breaches of those visa conditions—none whatsoever.

The No. 1 priority of any government is to keep the Australian people safe. We said on Monday that we would stand with the government to support legislation to keep the Australian community safe, to make sure these detainees were locked up again. Yet what we've heard from most ministers in the government is reason after reason as to why they cannot legislate. And then we find out today that they are going to legislate. Well, when? When are you going to legislate? When are you going to legislate, because all of us on this side are prepared to stay here tomorrow evening, we're prepared to stay here Friday, Saturday, Sunday to make sure that this legislation is—

We can't vote for it, Prime Minister, because there is no legislation! You've said that there would be, but we've got no sign of that legislation! How can we vote for something that isn't in the parliament?

We heard on Monday all the excuses and the reasons why that legislation couldn't be here in the parliament. Now, because you're being put under pressure to do your job, we're going to see legislation brought before the parliament—

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Dragged kicking and screaming.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

dragged kicking and screaming all the way to do it. Meanwhile, we read reports in the West Australian newspaper that those detainees were out partying—alcohol; drugs; going to and from the city—while we're waiting for you to put this legislation into place!

This is a government which is asleep at the wheel in keeping the Australian public safe! You have been caught out having all the wrong priorities: not focusing on the cost of living; not focusing on keeping the community safe; allowing these hardcore criminals to roam free; not doing your job!

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When people look for a definition of overreach, they will search for this motion that's been moved by the Leader of the Opposition. There is no issue too big for him to show how small he is. The weaponisation of, or attempt to weaponise, antisemitism in this chamber to make it a partisan issue is frankly beyond contempt. I spoke in this chamber on Monday about the events in Caulfield and about the events in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. There was no qualification whatsoever in my condemnation. I've spoken since to people, including the Israeli ambassador and, this morning, Jillian Segal. Moshe Kahn, the rabbi from that community in Balaklava in the electorate of Macnamara, sent me a message saying, 'Thank you for speaking out so clearly and so unequivocally.'

So to come in here, move this motion and link antisemitism with the decision of the High Court is beyond contempt. This is the same political party that tried to repeal section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, and I stood with Peter Wertheim and other members of the Jewish community at that time. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said:

That would be the worst possible message to send at a time of increasing fear, insecurity and polarisation. It would be a serious abrogation of principled leadership by government.

And indeed it was, which is why it was defeated. They failed to deliver the religious discrimination bill they moved in here, and, when an amendment was passed to carry antivilification provisions, they voted against it and trashed their own legislation before it was passed.

I make no apologies for standing up against antisemitism, and I will do it unequivocally as I have, as someone who led a campaign against a council my own electorate, against the BDS campaign—two decades ago, I think. I have a track record on this and I'm proud of it, but I also have a track record of standing up for the rights of and justice for Palestinian people. I make no apologies for being a consistent supporter of a two-state solution. I make no apologies for trying to bring communities together, not divide them, because that's the role of political leaders. At a time when there is social division, leaders have a choice. They have a choice to either bring people together or divide them, to look for unity or look for opportunism. And what we have seen from this bloke here is consistent with his entire political career. It has been based upon division.

Jewish Australians are fearful at the moment. The sort of activity that is occurring is scaring them, and I stand with them. No-one should threaten people because of their religion or their race in this country. But it is also the case that Arab Australians, Islamic Australians and women wearing hijabs in the streets of Sydney and Melbourne are being threatened, and I stand against that as well. The idea of selective human rights is one that I stand against. I'm opposed to any innocent life being lost, whether it be as a result of the terrorism of Hamas in Israel—those dreadful occasions. I'm against innocent babies being killed in Gaza. We have responsibilities, as a democratic nation, to say that democratic nations must stand up, consistent with the international rule of law. That is something I have done and will consistently do. That's something I will have meetings on at APEC, in San Francisco. I stand up for Israel's right to defend itself. I've done that consistently. I also say that how Israel does it matters. And I say that we need to care for all civilians.

We then have, somehow, a link between that issue and the issue of the High Court decision—a High Court decision that, in the words of the Leader of the Opposition himself, having been responsible for these issues for six years, went on 2GB yesterday and said:

I'm not going to comment on individual cases because in some of those cases, I will have been a decision maker, and in relation to that case, I believe that I was. So, if the matters go to the Court again, I don't want to interfere or taint that process.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Groom will cease interjecting. Members on my left! The member for Bowman!

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He stood up here and said we should have prevented people from being released—prevented a High Court decision. He stood in here, day after day, week after week, month after month and said: 'You've got to respect the Constitution. You can't change the Constitution, because if you do, you can't out-legislate it.' That's what he said. That's what they all said in justifying their 'no' vote, day after day and week after week.

This is what he said in May, in this chamber, 'The parliament cannot out-legislate the Constitution.' But, when it's convenient, just chuck it out and pretend it doesn't exist. They were responsible for a decade. The legislation that's been thrown out by the High Court was coalition legislation.

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The members for Bowman and Groom are now warned.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Then they say there's no responsibility. The opportunism of the Leader of the Opposition has been exposed for all to see here today, but I didn't think he could go so low as to try to link these two issues. Then, just to get another crack in the tabloids or to get a 'hear, hear' from Sky After Dark, he tries to link it with whether or not we should be represented at APEC. APEC has been there for 30 years. For thirty years, every prime minister, since APEC's creation by Paul Keating as a leaders' summit, has represented Australia.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Wannon will cease interjecting.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The only time that has not occurred is when Prime Minister Gillard had to return to Australia after a tragedy in her family, so she returned early. John Howard represented Australia every time. Coalition prime ministers represented Australia every time. But that is not okay. They do that, while, at the same time, he leads a party who had a shadow ministry meeting, almost, over there in London, at their talkfest: Taylor, Morrison, Price, Pike, Antic, Joyce, Paterson, Tehan, Webster, Canavan, Hastie—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister will use the correct titles for members.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In an article titled 'Tony Abbott and John Howard join Jordan Peterson-led group looking at "meaning of life"', it was exposed that they were paid for by foreign billionaire hedge fund managers—12 of them! The fact is that one in four Australian jobs depends upon our trade. I make no apologies for re-engaging and fixing some of the problems that we were left with. This is why we're dealing with supply chain issues, and it's why, with trade, we see the impediments in China being removed and it's why I will meet with President Biden, President Xi, Prime Minister Trudeau and Prime Minister Kishida—and all the meetings that have been scheduled over one day.

The fact is that this motion has been brought forward because this Leader of the Opposition is incapable of saying anything positive— (Time expired)

Government members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, members on my right! The time for this matter has expired. The question is that the motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition be agreed to.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.