Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. What has the Albanese Labor government done to get rid of dodgy visa programs, and are there any proposals that would undermine the system?

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

The member for Barker is not to interject. There's no point pointing to someone else; I heard you interjecting. You may sit further away, but I can still hear you. Trust me. We're going to remain silent for this answer, because I want to hear what the Leader of the House has to say.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for McEwen for raising what is an important issue. Soon after we came to office, my predecessor had commissioned the Nixon review. The Nixon review was presented to this government and found serious problems with the integrity of the visa system which we had inherited. It found that the visa system, as it had been administered by previous ministers, including the now Leader of the Opposition, had overseen mass exploitation of vulnerable individuals, as well as syndicates running brothels and engaging in sexual exploitation and even human trafficking. When you ask, 'Well, what was happening with compliance? We're hearing that some of the services that are provided by Australian workers need to be cut,' there's form there. You can guess which part of the workforce the cuts were made to in immigration. From 360 down to 203—that was in the compliance division.

There are different visas where you qualify in different ways. The fact that you are married might qualify you for a partner visa. The fact that you have particular skills might qualify you for a work visa. The way you qualify for a significant investor visa is that you have cash. That is how you qualify for that visa. So, when I use the term, I am not using the term in the sense of the Howard government scandals—a government the Leader of the Opposition was part of. The significant investor visa is a visa designed to be cash for visa.

We have seen the comments, some of which I read out the other day, from Magnitsky act founder Sir Bill Browder. Those opposite didn't like some of the comments that I read from him, so I'll read some different comments from him. He said, 'The Albanese government should hold firm on good policies that are in place for good reasons,' referring specifically to our abolition of the visa that the Leader of the Opposition wants to bring back. He went on to say:

The Magnitsky Act is designed to prevent kleptocrats and human rights violators from coming into the country, and now you have somebody who wants to propose a fast track for potential kleptocrats to come into the country—it makes no sense …

He went on to say:

As the rest of the world closes down these loopholes, Australia is going to get more of these people because they're not welcome elsewhere.

This level of reckless arrogance shows the twisted priorities we have seen just today. Today in an interview the Leader of the Opposition doubled down on wanting to bring back a discredited visa; he wanted today to divert police resources from an active investigation; and Senator Hughes has criticised for the first time a prime minister for being on the ground during a natural disaster. (Time expired)