Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

But I would like to focus on one aspect in the time available to me, and that is the issue of security checks. It is appropriate that this question is asked, because the minister maintains the assurances that are given in relation to security checks. Labor did promise that it would complete its processing in the same times. It keeps saying that this is what the Howard government did. But reports being produced show that the time that is now being taken in relation to security checks certainly does not fall within the time parameters.

Security checks are very important. Why do people arrive with no documents? Why do people destroy their documents? In my time—over 20 years—of working at the Australian Government Solicitor I did my fair share of immigration law, and you can bet your bottom dollar that when people destroy their documents they do so for a reason. They want to hide their identity. They want to hide their past. And they also do so with the objective of deliberate delay and obstruction of processes, because they think it is going to make it a lot harder to find out who they actually are. It is legitimate for us to ask the question and get assurances about proper security checks.