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

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Wannon proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The Government's failure to keep our streets safe and our borders secure.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

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

This matter of public importance is incredibly timely because during question time the Australian Federal Police just issued a media release:

A Sudanese man is expected to appear in Blacktown Local Court today (14 May, 2024) charged with allegedly failing to comply with his visa mandated curfew and maintain a monitoring device.

The AFP arrested and charged the man, 35, yesterday … after locating him in western Sydney.

It will be alleged the man breached the conditions of his Commonwealth visa between 9 May and 13 May … by failing to observe his residential curfew obligations and failing to keep a monitoring device in working order.

The man has been charged with:

The No. 1 priority of any government is to keep the Australian people safe, and what we have seen, time and time again, is the failure of this government to do so. Last week, on Friday, we got the latest data on the government's commitment to keep the Australian community safe after the release of 153 hardened criminals, following the NZYQ case. What that data showed—and it was snuck out under the guise of another decision by the High Court, the ASF17 decision—was that, of the 153 hardened criminals that were released, fewer than half had curfew conditions placed on them and fewer than half had been required to wear an ankle monitor. Do you think we could find out why? No, we could not. We could not find out why—even though there was a commitment given in this place that we would be watching and monitoring and making sure the Australian community were kept safe after those 153 hardened criminals were released into the community—fewer than half had those conditions placed on them.

Last week, I was in Perth. I went and visited Ninette Simons, and Ninette Simons wanted two questions answered. She wanted to know why one of her alleged attackers was required to wear an ankle bracelet and then that requirement was removed. She also wanted to know why, when bail was given to one of her alleged attackers, it was not opposed by the government. They are two fairly simple, straightforward questions. The one thing that she would like is a response to those questions.

Sadly, as we know, there has been complete and utter radio silence when it comes to any of these questions and many, many more. As a matter of fact, as most members know on this side and as we read, to the frustration of those on the other side, the immigration minister went into hiding. Now the question is: Why did he go into hiding? Did he go into hiding because he has something to hide? I think that is another question that everyone in Australia would like answered, because it seems, whenever the going gets tough, whenever there is a requirement for ministers to front up, this minister just goes missing. There have been reports in the media that there is deep concern on the government side because this has interfered with their ability to get a clear budget message out. I understand their concerns with that, but it just shows you how misdirected their concerns are. Their concerns should be with the safety of the Australian people, not with their own budget message. It shows you once again that failure to keep the Australian community safe and to put the policies and procedures in place to do that.

It's not just in relation to the release of those 153 hardened criminals that the Australian community are also getting more and more deeply concerned; there is also the issue of boat arrivals. In the last week we have seen three boat arrivals. In the last six months we have seen six boat arrivals. There are reports today that ABF are holding at sea the people who are on two of those boats while they try to work out what they will do with them. Do we know why? Do we think that the home affairs minister or the immigration minister has been out today, explaining what's taking place at sea? There has been nothing.

Meanwhile, what are the people smugglers thinking? The people smugglers are thinking that we've got a weak prime minister. Had it leaked out on Sunday that the immigration minister would not be in his position come the middle of the year, the people smugglers would have seen an opportunity. We have a weak immigration minister who won't be in his job in a couple of months and a weak prime minister who won't deal front-on with this issue. The Australian people want to know when the Prime Minister and his ministers will front up and start taking these issues seriously.

In question time today we asked the Prime Minister some very simple questions, one of which was: Prime Minister, have you lost control of our borders? Did we get a response? No, we didn't. We followed that with two more questions, one of which was: How many people have drowned at sea since Labor took office? We know, sadly, that the last time Labor were in office we saw people drown at sea. We saw hundreds drown at sea. No-one wants to see that happen again. We don't know whether it's happening again or not. We also do not want to see, in particular, women and children in immigration detention again, and we asked a question of the Prime Minister about that today. Did we get a response from the Prime Minister to those three very simple questions? No, we did not.

This is the problem that we have at the moment: the government is not taking border security seriously. It is not taking seriously keeping the Australian community safe, and the Australian people are worried. Everyone has seen that a growing issue is the concern in the Australian community about their safety on the street. Not in all cases and not in all areas can the federal government reassure the Australian people, but in certain ways it can, and in these two important ways the government is not doing its job.

I say to the Prime Minister: please, take your No. 1 priority seriously. Please, let's see in the budget a recommitment to putting back the funds that you stripped from Operation Sovereign Borders to make sure that that surveillance on the sea and in the air can take place, because the Australian people want to feel safe again.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition talk tough when it comes to border security and safety, but the reality is that they are full of hypocrisy when it comes to this issue. If you want to see that, look no further than this headline: 'Libs set free man charged with assault'. This goes to the case, which has been raised by the shadow minister, of the shocking alleged assault of a Perth grandmother in her home. It is one of the NZYQ matters that the opposition has been raving on about for months and blaming the government for.

Well, the facts in this matter tell a very different story. The facts in this matter demonstrate the hypocrisy of this opposition when it comes to border security and safety. The person charged with this assault was sent to prison in 2018 for drug possession. These are the facts. In February 2019 his protection visa was cancelled. In June 2019 he was released from jail and transferred to immigration detention, but in January 2020, when the opposition leader was the Minister for Home Affairs, his visa was magically reinstated and he was released from immigration detention. Those opposite go on about the conditions of this person's release. But guess what? When the Leader of the Opposition released this person from immigration detention, do you think he put any conditions on that release? Not one. Do you think that there was any monitoring—ankle bracelets or anything like that? Not at all. Do you think there was any concern for community safety from the then home affairs minister and now Leader of the Opposition? Not at all. This person that was released by the Leader of the Opposition went on to commit further horrific crimes.

The Leader of the Opposition and the shadow minister for home affairs have been banging on about this case for a number of weeks now, seeking to blame the government and to whip up hysteria and fear within the community. Here are some of the quotes that have been used by the Leader of the Opposition to whip up that hysteria:

Well, under a Coalition Government, that won't happen. Under a Government I lead, as I demonstrated when I was Minister for Home Affairs, we make the decisions to kick these people out when they've caused harm against Australian citizens. I won't tolerate these people being in our local community …

Well, it turns out that he did tolerate these people being in the local community and he did allow these sorts of crimes to happen. The question that the Leader of the Opposition has to answer is why he released this individual that went on to commit this horrific crime—allegedly. On 3 May 2024, the Leader of the Opposition said:

It was negligent, reckless, hopeless …

…   …   …

If the Minister doesn't have responsibility here, I don't know who does.

The question for the Leader of the Opposition is: why didn't you take responsibility when you released this person from immigration detention?

On 30 April 2024—he wasn't done yet—he kept going: 'They're not Australian citizens and they should have been deported. This crime potentially could have been avoided. I don't for the life of me understand why these people are still on the street.' Well, you should know because you put them back on the street when you were the home affairs minister. On 11 May 2024, he went on: 'I don't think he should have been released without wearing an ankle bracelet. Now the minister has to take responsibility for that because they set up this process. We've said if this were us we would take responsibility for it.' It turns out that you didn't take responsibility for it, Leader of the Opposition, and you did release this person with no conditions and no monitoring.

On 10 May 2024—and this takes the cake in terms of comebacks—Senator Paterson said, 'Peter Dutton hasn't released hardened criminals into the community.' It turns out that he has and that that quote was not true. So don't come in here and seek to whip up this hysteria about safety in the community and about a threat to safety of Australians due to asylum seekers being released from immigration detention. That was done under your government and it was done by the Leader of the Opposition. That is hypocrisy at its highest order.

They make a big thing about protecting borders and being tough on border protection, but the reality is very far from the truth. When it comes to the integrity of Australian borders, we know that the former governments—the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments—had a shocking record and were basically asleep at the wheel. When we came to government we made sure that we did a check of the integrity of our border protection system, in particular our immigration and visa system. There were a number of independent inquiries that were commissioned by the Albanese government. We got esteemed Australians, such as Christine Nixon and Martin Parkinson, to have a look at what was actually going on when it came to border protection, and the findings were shocking. What they found was that under the previous government there was serious and systemic abuse of our migration system that led to serious crimes, including sexual slavery and human trafficking, being committed.

The Nixon inquiry found there was dysfunction and poor management of the immigration system by the former government; in particular, abuse of the visa system. Much of that was occurring when the Leader of the Opposition was the Minister for Home Affairs. It was on his watch. He was the one who was asleep at the wheel and allowing these shocking conditions to persist. We saw abuse of offshore processing, a regime that was basically being used as a slush fund by suspected criminals. There was shocking abuse of contracts—in particular, contracts awarded to allegedly dodgy individuals—under their watch. It was complete abuse of the migration system. Martin Parkinson's review of the migration system found that 'almost a decade of wilful neglect' occurred under the watch of the previous government.

That is the record of the previous government when it comes to border protection and immigration. They ran a system that was dysfunctional and neglectful. They were basically asleep at the wheel. We are putting in place measures to ensure we restore integrity to our migration system and to the protection of our borders. That will take time, because it's a big job to fix the dysfunction of the previous government, but we are making those investments and making sure that we have integrity in our border system.

We're also making investments to ensure that we keep Australians safe here in their communities. A big focus of this government is ensuring safer communities for all Australians. We've made some big investments in a safer future for Central Australia, in the wake of some shocking examples of crime in the Northern Territory, with a $250 million investment in programs there. That comes on the back of a $109 million investment in justice reinvestment programs to reduce crime recidivism amongst particular individuals.

We're also ensuring that Australians of all faiths have the opportunity to live and practise their religion free of violence and discrimination, with $50 million for the Securing Faith-Based Places grants program. In the wake of 7 October, those shocking attacks in Israel, we acted by providing $50 million worth of funding for the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the Muslim community to ensure that they were supporting their communities and running programs to reduce hate, violence and discrimination. Even in the online world many Australians are now being attacked and facing harassment and intimidation. The government are acting to ensure that we keep Australians safe in the online space as well by reviewing Australia's online safety laws.

We have a suite of policies aimed at restoring integrity to our migration system, protecting Australia's borders and keeping Australians safe, and ensuring that we keep Australians safe in our communities with all of these programs. We do this through policies, and many more of those will be outlined in the budget tonight. The question for the opposition is this: you talk tough, you come in here with your rhetoric, you seek to point fingers, but where are your policies? Where are the policies that will keep Australians safe in the future? You won't hear anything of that from any of their speakers today.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If Ninette Simons were able to watch this—and I don't know how her eyesight is after that terrible attack on her on 16 April—she'd be very upset. She'd be very disappointed, because what she would see is probably politics at its worst. She would see those on that side blaming us, saying, 'It was their fault.' Australians deserve better. They just deserve better, and they're not getting it at the moment, and Labor is in government. You can't explain it to a 73-year-old Perth grandmother who has cracked lips, who has a bruised forehead and whose face is purple from the bludgeoning that she took on that terrible night when three men arrived at her doorstep pretending to be police officers. They were pretending to be people who the community should be able to trust. That attack should not have been perpetrated. It's just beyond belief that, indeed, it was. People like Mrs Simons deserve better. Labor is in government, and Labor should be doing better. We all should be doing better. We all should bring about policies that protect people like this 73-year-old grandmother, who says that she doesn't feel safe in her own home. When you are in your own home and someone comes to the door and shows a badge and says they are a police officer, in Australia, in 2024, you should be able to believe them. Yet, she's been let down. She's been let down by all of us. She has. And it is simply not good enough.

In November 2023, the High Court overturned a 20-year-old precedent which had underpinned the migration policy of governments on both sides. It's just simply not good enough that the High Court—I know we have to separate court and parliament, but it's simply not good enough because we make the rules that they follow, and we should have been onto this earlier. As a parliament, we should have been making sure that detainees who have violent pasts should not have been allowed out into the community.

I can remember this parliament at its best when we had a case of pins in strawberries. Some maniac was going around putting sharp objects into strawberries. We came together in a bipartisan way and introduced emergency legislation to stop that. Then, we had the situation—I've been here a while—where we had the Russians wanting to build an embassy within the parliamentary triangle, which was far too close to this building. Again, we were at our best when we came together in a bipartisan way to put in legislation which stopped that process and made sure that we put Australians and Australian interests—national security—at the forefront.

We've got to be better than this. We've simply got to be better than this. We hear that we've got another illegal boat arrival. The other side say: 'Well, it's Howard's fault. We put in place measures.' I've got to say that under the Howard government the boats stopped. They started again in the Gillard-Rudd years. When you've got people being washed ashore on Christmas Island—drowned victims of failed policies—we've got to be better than that. As a parliament, we should have been better. We should have pre-empted what the High Court was going to do and come together and put in policies that would have prevented what we're seeing now, and that is detainees out, causing mayhem in our communities. It's simply not good enough.

The first job of government is to keep Australians safe. Labor is in power. Labor is in office. Labor is in government, and it's on Labor's watch to do better. If there are good policies, we'll support them. If it means keeping Australians safe, we'll support it. Do better!

Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Words spoken in this chamber ricochet around this country, and they tear at our social fabric. A few moments ago, I saw the shadow minister for immigration stand up and discuss a detainee who had been released on an order by the High Court of Australia and how he had breached his monitoring conditions. But that's not exactly what he said. What he chose to do—and it was a choice—was to add the prefix of this man's ethnicity. This man was a Sudanese man. There was no need to introduce this man's ethnicity into the mix, and let me tell you why.

I know what racism looks like. From the moment my skin started to darken, which was when I was a baby—I was born white—racism has stalked me my whole life. But it is much worse for people who do not have the privilege of being in the House of Representatives. It is much worse for marginalised groups in this country, like the Sudanese community, a group of proud Australians who have come to this country to rebuild their lives, fleeing a war which has gone on for decades, which is now classified as a genocide. These people have made significant contributions to our country—people like Nyadol. These people have given back to this country and raised it up.

I want to read something out to you:

THIS week, another Sudanese youth was bashed in a racially motivated attack. Kevin Andrews could have been a force for good by appealing to the generosity of spirit within Australians towards the underdog. Instead he has stirred xenophobia and racism. As the Minister for Immigration, he should be building bridges between people, not further marginalising them. A politician in a moment can irreparably damage the reputation of a people and sour any goodwill between them and the broader community, but what recourse do they have against the crushing might of the Federal Government?

Many African refugees have survived unspeakable suffering that most of us can never really understand only to come to a country and have a federal minister inflict another hell upon them for political gain. Mr Andrews you caused this mess, now fix it.

Who wrote that? I wrote that. I wrote that in 2007. It was published in a newspaper, the Age. I've seen this movie before.

This debate demeans this House, and it demeans this nation, which was built off the back of migrants—waves and waves of migrants who have come to this country fleeing wars and conflicts and unspeakable horror, like the Holocaust and genocides in Sudan. These people live and work and walk among us. In fact, one in two Australians were born overseas or have a parent who was born overseas. In Higgins, that number is 32 per cent.

You are weaponising this issue, which you know full well was a decision made by the High Court. This parliament scrambled to try and put guardrails around the discharge of these people into the community. We did our level best, and we thank the opposition for working with us. But now you choose—and it is a choice—to weaponise this by demonising and dehumanising asylum seekers. They are people fleeing conflicts. People in my electorate care about that stuff, and so do most Australians. Why? Because we all know immigrants. We all know refugees. We all know people who have rebuilt their lives after fleeing elsewhere and coming here. The tone of who we are as a country is very much laid out in this building and in this chamber. You can choose what complexion that should be. Is it going to be the face of racism and xenophobia? Or is it going to be one of inclusion, warmth and care? That is what I experienced as a child migrant coming to this country. It is what enabled me to thrive, and it is what I see us Australians as.

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I feel most obliged to speak on today's MPI, because my electorate of Durack is probably impacted the most by this Albanese Labor government's failure to secure our borders. Over the weekend, it was reported that four more illegal boat arrivals had reached Broome. This marks the fourth time in just six months that illegal boat arrivals have reached the Western Australian coast covering my electorate.

I'm extremely proud to represent northern Western Australia, and let me tell you that I am sick and tired of this Albanese Labor government putting my constituents in harm's way. I regularly receive correspondence from constituents of mine saying that they are worried about the enormous risk these arrivals present to northern Western Australia, particularly in terms of safety, public health and biosecurity. I am concerned by the risk of serious diseases entering northern Western Australia through these unauthorised arrivals. If rabies, foot-and-mouth disease or lumpy skin disease was to reach Australia, it would have a devastating impact on our environment as well as our agricultural and pastoral industries. The Prime Minister needs to take this issue seriously before we are crippled with a serious incident, or a return to the large-scale illegal arrivals that occurred under the last Labor government. We simply cannot let that human tragedy happen again.

This latest arrival, along with others across Australia last week, means that there have now been 17 attempted people-smuggling ventures to reach Australia under the Albanese government. During our time in government, we stopped the boats. We had nine years of safe and secure borders. But now it appears we are in danger of returning to the full-scale people-smuggling operations that took place under the disastrous Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments.

You would think those opposite would have learned their lesson from their last term in office, which saw 50,000 illegal boat arrivals in a 820 boats, and, tragically, 1,200 deaths at sea. Unfortunately, it is clear that those opposite have learned nothing. Just as Rudd dismantled the Howard government's policy, the Albanese government has undermined Operation Sovereign Borders, which cleaned up the mess they had left us when we came to office in 2013. They have abolished temporary protection visas and are planning a cut of some $400 million in border security funding over the next three years. Incredibly, just as illegal boats are arriving, patrols across north Australian waters are decreasing. Aerial patrol hours have reduced by 20.7 per cent, and maritime patrol days have decreased by 12.2 per cent.

Let me tell you: I'll be paying very close attention to the Treasurer's speech tonight and to the budget papers, to see if their planned cuts will be reversed, and to see if they will be any more resources to defend and patrol northern Western Australia. That is what my constituents are crying out for. The people that I represent deserve nothing less.

Of course, the government's immigration failures reach much further than reduced patrols or cuts to border security. Their response to the NZYQ ruling of the High Court has been one of the greatest examples of government incompetence on record. Late last year, the government released 152 hardened criminals into the community. This included seven murderers, 37 sex offenders, and 72 people who have committed very serious crimes. This was a mess from the start, with no plan from the government to protect the community from these criminals. There were simply plopped into hotels, right across Australia, and allowed to come and go as they pleased. The minister for immigration and the Minister for Home Affairs need stand up and both take responsibility for the numerous failures that they have overseen. Also front and centre, with regard to community safety, is a growing issue of radicalisation and antisemitism. In recent weeks we've seen two attacks motivated by religious extremism. We've seen the Minister for Education refusing to condemn the 'From the river to the sea' chant and we've seen the government reward international acts of terror at the UN. It is shameful. The foreign affairs minister and the Prime Minister should both hang their heads in shame. The government has made it crystal clear that only the coalition can be trusted to keep our borders secure.

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Fact: facts matter. First, Defence officials have confirmed that Operation Sovereign Borders is operating identically to when it came into force in 2013. There's been no change. Every attack by those opposite on Operation Sovereign Borders is an attack on the men and women who are patrolling our borders, who are doing the work to keep this country safe. Fact: Border Force funding is at its highest since it was established, in 2015, and tonight's budget will confirm even more.

The shadow minister started this MPI by saying that a man had been charged for not complying with his monitoring device, and the member for Higgins made the very good point that his ethnicity was unnecessarily mentioned. The fact is: if a man has been charged for not complying with his monitoring device, that shows the system is working as intended. A person has been given a monitoring device. They've allegedly broken the rules and conditions of that monitoring device. Police have charged them with an offence, and they'll now go through the justice process. That's how the system is meant to work. What alternative do those opposite think there is to this? Somebody is given a monitoring device, and then what? The High Court has determined we can't place people in indeterminate detention. The High Court struck down the law that those opposite brought into being. I must say our side defended it and also had it in operation, but it was a law that those opposite brought into being, and the High Court determined the law to be unconstitutional. So the law is working as intended.

Facts do matter. The shadow minister and the member for Durack have both referred to 153 'hardened criminals'. That's simply factually wrong, but it is repeated and repeated until people forget that it's wrong. It just gets repeated as if it's fact, and it's not right. Some of those people absolutely are hardened criminals, with very serious charges and very serious convictions, but some of them are not. Not all of those 153 people are hardened criminals, and you shouldn't call a person a hardened criminal if they're not one. Facts matter.

The shadow minister says he met Ninette Simons and her husband, Philip, when he went to visit Western Australia. I can tell you: the heart of every member on this side of the House is with that couple. Nobody should have to face what they had to endure—no matter their age, frankly. Clearly an assault occurred. There's an allegation as to who committed the assault, but clearly the couple were attacked. It should not have happened, and our thoughts are with them. It was an appalling attack. But when the shadow minister was in Western Australia did he tell Ninette Simons that one of the men charged with assaulting her had been released into the community—without condition and without monitoring—by the government that he was a member of? The shadow minister and the Leader of the Opposition have been all too happy to run to every microphone they can possibly find to try to pin that appalling alleged attack onto this government because one of the men who's been charged was released as a result of the High Court decision. Almost with glee they've been running to the media to try to do this. But, now that it's been discovered that the other man charged with that alleged assault is somebody they released, there's radio silence from those opposite. It's an appalling politicisation of a terrible incident that should never have occurred. I do agree with the member for Riverina that the couple have been failed by society generally—that in the comfort of their own home this could possibly occur to them.

News.com.au has reported that Labor's bid—and I'm quoting the reporter here. Actually, I'm going to run out of time. I will sit down.

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the matter of public importance that's been brought by the member for Wannon, on the government's failure to keep our streets safe and our borders secure, and I thank the honourable member for bringing it. The federal government's first priority must always be to keep its citizens, our community, safe; to keep our streets safe and our borders secure. This government, led by the Prime Minister, with home affairs minister, Minister O'Neil; and immigration minister, Minister Giles, has failed on this most important priority. They have failed Australians as a result.

I turn particularly to the failure so far on Operation Sovereign Borders. This operation has been repeatedly undermined by this government since it came to power two years ago. It's all very well for members on the other side to be talking about what the coalition may or may not have done, but they have now been in power for two years, and there is the direct evidence we now have that asylum boats have started to return. We've had six boat arrivals now in as many months—six that we know of. This shows again Labor's chronic border failure. We had media reports yesterday that four unauthorised maritime arrivals were found in Broome on Friday. This represents yet another shocking failure of border protection under the Albanese Labor government. It follows recent reports of 33 illegal boat arrivals at Christmas Island and five in Far North Queensland in the last week alone. This is now the 17th—the 17th!—attempted people-smuggling venture to make the journey to Australia under the Albanese government. Again, this is the 17th that we know about.

This latest attempt comes after the Labor government have demonstrably and repeatedly weakened Operation Sovereign Borders. This has happened in three ways: they've abolished temporary protection visas, they've cut funding to border security by over $400 million and they have reduced aerial monitoring and on-sea surveillance by 20 per cent and 12 per cent respectively. How can this be anything but a weakening of what was a solid Operation Sovereign Borders? It's the latest in a cascading set of failures under the current government that have left Australians feeling less safe, less secure and less certain.

If we turn to the immediate boat arrivals and those that have happened in the past, Labor has a history of weakness on border security. We just have to remember 2007 when, under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the government lost control of Australia's borders. Let us really hope that this Prime Minister is not following the example set by Prime Minister Rudd, because, back then, the Labor government was responsible for, arguably, the greatest humanitarian tragedy and policy failure in modern Australian history. We know that at least 1,200 people, including children, died at sea during that period and that 8,000 children were forcibly placed in detention. This is not something that we want to be returning to, but the asylum seekers are now seeing a weaker government—a government that's weaker on border security and two ministers that are weaker. That is a pull factor. We also have three previous immigration ministers who were part of that weakening: Chris Bowen, Tony Burke and Brendan O'Connor oversaw that humanitarian tragedy, and they're still sitting in cabinet—presumably with influence over the weakening of Operation Sovereign Borders.

Let's now turn to NZYQ. Of course Minister Giles has no control over a decision of the High Court. What Minister Giles does have control over is meeting with his department and receiving legal advice about important court cases that are coming up. That would have been far more important than running off to Labor conferences in the UK when the High Court back in June had given an indication that it was likely to find the way that it did. So the minister was on notice, but the minister wasn't responsible; he didn't meet with his bureaucrats and didn't take proper legal advice. A lot of these criminals that have now escaped should have been locked up.

Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let's just call out this shameful episode for what it is: this is an opposition that is, quite frankly, devoid of ideas, devoid of any kind of policy and devoid of direction. What they are doing is making a pitiful attempt to claw and draw attention to what is an incredibly serious situation. We know that no Australian should ever live in fear in their own home, whether it be from someone who is pretending to be an officer of the law or whether it be someone that they're in an intimate relationship with. It is awful to see a woman on the television with a face blackened and bruised. The only thing that is worse than that is watching an opposition make hay from it in the media. It is truly despicable.

The fact that it is again being brought up in parliament as a matter of public importance today, to try and make political points, really is the nub of this matter today. I only have to look across the chamber and see barely a handful of people here. If this opposition were so hell-bent on drawing attention to this matter of public importance they would all be here, but they aren't. The issue is this: they love nothing more than to light a flame under a pool of fear and watch the flames rise, because they know that when Australians are worried and nervous it somehow draws power to them. Let me say that the contributions of people like the member for Higgins, who spoke today, are in complete contrast to that argument. She gave calming words and said, 'Australia can be better and bigger than the xenophobic, paltry debate that we've heard from those opposite today.' It truly belittles us as a country when people try to score politically from things that aren't good but should be treated with so much more strength and dignity.

For the members newly elected on the other side: when they speak about our government and what we've done, know that we have been in government for two years and we have not abolished any of the Border Force protections they proclaim that we have. In their term of government, when boats arrived—and they did—we didn't hear about them; they were conveniently described as 'on-water matters' and never spoken of. Those opposite weren't transparent, and somehow, by the cover of darkness and deceit, they thought they were getting away with it. Well, they weren't.

Australians need to remember that when we came to government we had to deal with a backlog of one million immigration applications. There was so much work that had just been left undone or ignored. Quite frankly, they don't really care about keeping our borders secure. What they care about is their own positions of power. By setting off fear in the Australian public, they perceive that they can keep that power.

Well, we're not fearmongering. We're over here responsibly and diligently setting the policy, doing the work and working within the parameters of the law. Incidentally, some of the laws those opposite put in place have been found wanting by the High Court. What we are doing here is providing sensible, stable government. We know there are challenges. We know there is difficulty. Many parts of the world are in a perilous state. People do seek asylum, and it is challenging and difficult. But, rather than just trying to create this smog of fear, we are diligently and responsibly working through the challenges that we face. We are doing our best, and our best is so much better than anything those opposite could ever offer. I say to the Australian people: it isn't easy, but we are working hard for you and we are keeping you safe. We want Australia to be a safe and secure nation.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a great privilege to be able to stand and speak this afternoon on the MPI about the government's failure to keep our streets safe and our borders secure, moved by the member for Wannon. And I want to acknowledge the fine contributions made by members of the coalition on this matter today. It has been a long-held tradition that the MPI is a topic that the opposition brings to the House for debate and consideration. At the fundamental core of this debate is trust. It's the same trust a child has when looking for safety—that trust they have in their parent. It's the same trust that should exist with the Australian public in their government—that trust that exists when it comes to keeping their streets and borders safe.

But on too many unfortunate occasions we have seen this government, time and time and time again, erode that trust of the Australian public—that trust that should be lock fast, that trust that should allow them to sleep of a night without fear of their home being invaded. That trust is paramount to this debate. That trust was eroded on 200 occasions when this government indicated that they would give a $275 electricity cut. That's when the trust started to be chipped away.

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

You promised me $500. Tony Abbott never delivered it.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I just take that interjection? Those on the other side, since I've been in the chamber, were not interrupted once by a member of this coalition. And I'm talking about trust that the Australian public should have in those on the other side. I can understand why they take umbrage, the member who interrupted, that person on the other side—they are who they should least trust. We had a cost-of-living crisis whereby on 13 occasions the Australian public could not trust this government. Then we saw that we couldn't trust this government when there was a $450 million spend on a referendum where not one state responded positively to what the government were asking the public to put their faith in.

But, closer to this debate: trust was betrayed when the 300 detainees were let out. Rightly, there was a comment from those on the other side about not all of those detainees being hard-core criminals. But there were seven murderers, and there were 37 sex offenders, and there were 72 violent offenders, of the 149 that were released on that charter. Not all were hardened criminals, but we don't put our best and brightest into detention centres. That's the fact.

We heard those on the other side talk about—or feign indignation at—racism. This is not a debate about racism. This is a debate about whether the Australian public should feel safe, and they don't; they do not feel safe. There have been 17 boat arrivals since this government came into office. Each time one of those boats arrives the Australian public's trust in this government is eroded—and it should, rightly, be eroded. That's because this government has signalled to the people smugglers that the Australian Labor Party is open for business for them. The Australian public will have their opportunity to square it up on border security at the next election in terms of whose policies worked and whose failed.

There was a comment from the other side, from the last speaker, that we are 'devoid of ideas'. Well, let me paint a policy position in the mindset of the Australian Labor Party—an idea that worked extremely well for us when we were in government, and that was a campaign to stop the boats.

Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, we find those opposite doing what they do best, especially when it comes to their nine long years in government. We're seeing another attempt by those opposite at lulling themselves into a false sense of security when it comes to their record. Leading those opposite into this trance-like state of cognitive dissonance was, of course, the member for Wannon. Their constant demonstrations of historical revisionism in this place are effectively an ironclad guarantee that they are doomed to repeat each and every mistake—and I say the word 'mistake' quite charitably as an exercise in restraint.

It is curious that the member is leading the MPI for those opposite today. You would think the member for Dickson would use every opportunity to cosplay as a strongman. In the same way, his love of secrecy as a minister allowed him to spend many years at the cabinet table flying under the radar, cosplaying as competent during the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison Liberal governments—the grand architect of many small and large mistakes. Many of those have already been disinfected by the sunlight of a government that believes in transparency and accountability. I'm sure the best is yet to come! Watch this space! The moment he showed the Australian people he could smile when those pearly whites were out on display after he resigned from the final Turnbull cabinet must have all been an act. If this weren't the case, we wouldn't be continuing to uncover and correct the litany of mistakes made under the Dutton regime, particularly through his time as Minister for Home Affairs. I'm sure he will brush aside any and all kinds of criticism like this, but I know that deep down that glistening smile he has in his wheelhouse turns upside down.

The time limits placed on MPI debate speeches make it quite hard to provide granular detail on the worst of the worst or even to have enough time to put the member for Dickson's legacy into a BuzzFeed style list. But I will name just a few examples of the member for Dickson's direct contributions to national security and a safe and cohesive society. We will start with some of the more recent examples and, time permitting, move on to dessert.

The first example was the review handed down by former Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police Christine Nixon AO, into the abuses of Australia's visa system. Another review was conducted by former Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson, whose assessment of his and his government's job of protecting our borders is 'almost a decade of wilful neglect'. We also had the review conducted by former director-general of ASIO Dennis Richardson, whom those opposite probably describe as a big lefty as a result of the report. What the review found to have occurred on our borders under the Leader of the Opposition's watch borders on horrifying: giving contracts to companies whose leadership were involved in everything under the sun, from bribery to drug smuggling, arms trafficking, money laundering and even attempting to avoid US sanctions in place against the Iranian government. I can certainly sympathise with the latter. I'm sure all of us here try to avoid US sanctions on Iran, although this is mostly accomplished by not having any personal or business dealings with high-ranking Iranian officials. I'm sure those opposite believe that all these things make up the secret sauce of keeping Australia safe and secure. They believe that to defeat a criminal you have to think like one. The Department of Home Affairs under the Leader of the Opposition's watch certainly assembled the Avengers, paying them handsomely. I'm sure they all appreciated getting something close to, by their standards, an honest day's work. The Leader of the Opposition's record on border security is a lot like the TV show Scandal: you can expect at least a scandal every episode. Sadly, that show ended years ago, but, thankfully, the opposition leader's time as a minister and a member of the National Security Committee of Cabinet did as well.

The reality is that the Albanese Labor government has invested millions more into national security and protecting our borders compared to the time in government of those opposite, not that long ago. Those opposite will pretend to hear the Treasurer deliver his budget address later tonight, but they will still thump their chests and deny these self-evident facts. No wonder those opposite want to see a nuclear Australia. They need something to distract geiger counters stuck in the same room as the opposition leader.