Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the amendments be agreed to.

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

I'll be brief. There are 25 amendments listed on the government sheet, including a number of minor technical amendments. Each of the recommendations made by Senator Scarr in the Senate committee inquiry have been addressed. I want to thank Senator Scarr and the committee for their process and the way that they were able to look at the Migration Amendment (Strengthening Employer Compliance) Bill 2023 and work together to make sure that we got good amendments in place that I think have improved the bill. This was work which was begun by the coalition; obviously the government has also taken it up. We've had a good committee process, and we now have amendments which even improve the bill further, and I'd like to thank all those involved in that process. It's a very good example of when government and opposition work together well we get a good bill.

There is just one thing that I would ask of the government—and it was part of some of the discussions we had—and that is we need to make sure that there's a proper educational process. Given that the bill will come into effect on 1 July, our hope is that the Department of Home Affairs and immigration will be able to roll out an educational campaign so everyone is fully aware of it, given that we now have a short time frame until it comes into law. I would just ask that that could be kept front of mind by the government. I think it's really important, given these changes, that especially employer groups now understand what these new obligations are.

Question agreed to.