House debates
Tuesday, 13 August 2024
Statements by Members
Minister for Skills and Training
1:57 pm
Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
'Immigration visa bungler Giles strikes again'—you can't miss the front page of the Australian today. Today we have fresh revelations about the incompetence of the member for Scullin. We knew he let out 178 detainees, including seven murderers, 37 sex offenders and 72 violent offenders, but now we find out that he released 83 detainees into the community without visas and that he misled the House about it.
This man should have been sacked, but, instead, he was promoted to minister for skills. If the PM thinks his mate is going to get an easy run in skills, he'd better think again. For a fortnight, the member for Scullin has been in witness protection while Aussie skills are suffering. Labor's failures on skills is making the housing crisis worse and putting national priorities like AUKUS and infrastructure projects at risk. When the member for Scullin comes out of hiding, he has questions to answer. He must come clean about how many of Labour's 500,000 fee-free TAFE places have resulted in no qualification being earned. How much of the $1.5 billion of taxpayer funds spent on this program have been wasted? He should be fronting the National Press Club tomorrow, but he cancelled. Every day that this incompetent minister stays silent is further proof he should have been sent to the backbench. He is the weakest wildebeest in the herd, and there's nowhere for him to hide.