Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on what can only be described as the utter failure of the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone. Since I have been in parliament there has been no greater litany of disasters, failures, incompetence, mismanagement and utter failure in proper accountability than that presided over by Senator Vanstone. True, she inherited some of it from Mr Ruddock, but only some of it. The remainder of it was her doing it—she presided over it.

This litany of failures started way back with the cowboy culture of the immigration department. That culture could have had its genesis under Mr Ruddock, but when Senator Vanstone took over the reins she failed to curb or change that culture. Finally, after a backbench revolt, she did decide that the culture needed changing. But there was not just the litany of failures in the immigration department; it moved more broadly into the 457 visa scheme, which is the focus today. Of course, while it is true that Mr Ruddock had a hand in all of these issues, it is now clearly Senator Vanstone who should take proper and full responsibility for all the issues that have come to light.

The Prime Minister’s response to Senator Vanstone has been, for example: ‘Well, I’ll take over the admission that the Migration Amendment (Designated Unauthorised Arrivals) Bill 2006 will be pulled.’ He did not leave it to Senator Vanstone. Senator Vanstone was out there ridiculing her own backbench about their position, but she did not come forward and say, ‘It is now my turn to say that this bill should not come forward.’ That seems to be the usual form for this minister.

Let me remind this place that it was on Senator Vanstone’s watch that a mentally ill woman, Cornelia Rau, was detained and held for months before eventually being released. It was on Senator Vanstone’s watch that Vivian Alvarez was left overseas—and it was under the minister’s watch that the government ensured that a report into her deportation could never focus on the actions of the minister or her office. It was on Senator Vanstone’s watch that nothing was done about the infectious cowboy culture of the immigration department—which valued getting themselves on TV and allowing favoured media on immigration raids over dealing with the hard work of an immigration department. It was also on Senator Vanstone’s watch that five detainees were put in the back of a truck by detention centre staff and transported across the desert for six hours with no food, water or toilet facilities. That is just a taste of some of the utter failures of the immigration department that this minister has presided over.

We can say that the minister favoured announcing changes to the department that went to a range of issues. But as soon as something did not meet the minister’s direction—such as the offshore processing—it was rejected. As soon as it did not meet the direction the minister wanted to go in, it was rejected. We did see a softer approach emerging with the immigration department with the slogan ‘People—our business’, but it was all thrown in the bin as soon as the West Papuans turned up. It was all junked because this minister was looking for political outcomes, not outcomes for people. ‘People—our business’ was not what the minister was looking for.

Of course, we now have the 457 visa issue. There are reports that the minister will not make public, but we will seek an order to produce those documents. This smacks of a guest worker program being introduced by stealth. There was also the report into the T&R Pastoral company. Senators on the other side might encourage the minister to make that report public or available to this chamber so that we can see what the litany of abuses were there. And the list goes on. One of the greatest scams perpetrated by this government goes to issues of ensuring that the Work Choices legislation would be used under 457 visas. As I indicated, we also have T&R Pastoral and the related 457 visas issue. Senator Vanstone should table that report. I think it would be helpful if the report were brought to light. Will the minister table it? I doubt it. (Time expired)