Linda Kirk (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Vanstone, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. I again refer the minister to the Senate committee report on the Migration Amendment (Designated Unauthorised Arrivals) Bill, which recommended that the bill should not proceed. Did the minister note from the report’s findings that the offshore systems of identifying initial refugee status lacked independent scrutiny because they were made by her departmental officers and only able to be reviewed by other departmental officers? Wasn’t it this lack of transparency and independent review that led to the wrongful detention of Cornelia Rau, Vivian Alvarez Solon, Mr T and at least 26 other Australians? Can the minister explain why she wants to persist with a flawed offshore system in the bill, which lacks the fundamental requirements of transparency and independent scrutiny?