Senate debates
Monday, 4 July 2011
Bills
Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 2) Bill 2011, Corporations Amendment (Improving Accountability on Director and Executive Remuneration) Bill 2011, Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 4) Bill 2011, Tax Laws Amendment (Medicare Levy and Medicare Levy Surcharge) Bill 2011, International Tax Agreements Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2011, Acts Interpretation Amendment Bill 2011, Midwife Professional Indemnity Legislation Amendment Bill 2011, Social Security Legislation Amendment (Job Seeker Compliance) Bill 2011, Social Security Amendment (Parenting Payment Transitional Arrangement) Bill 2011, Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Election Commitments and Other Measures) Bill 2011, Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 3) Bill 2011, Family Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2011, Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Further Election Commitments and Other Measures) Bill 2011, Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy Bill 2011
9:17 pm
David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source
I will seek to respond to some of the points made by Senator Cash. Firstly, Senator Cash, you are quite right. This bill does have a narrow goal, if I can put it in those terms, and that is to deal with questions pertaining to persons in detention. It is not seeking to deal with the much wider class of persons that can be described as non-citizens. That is deliberate on our part and it is our continuing intention that that is the appropriate way for this legislation to operate.
On the question of boat arrivals and the workload of the department, I guess I would simply make the point that we believe the bill that we are offering to the Senate is practicable. We think that the amendment you are proposing would have a number of consequences, as I have already outlined in my summation of the second reading debate, that would render this legislation gravely flawed.
With respect to section 8528, the government simply makes the point that legislation always overrides regulation. We think the phenomenon you described is in fact a strengthening rather than a weakening or a distraction of the legislation.
Finally, on your point of custodial sentences and our using the time-honoured test of 12 months or more for a custodial sentence, I simply make the point that that is commonly found across legislation. It has been commonly found across legislation for many years. It was the same standard that applied when the coalition was in office and when Philip Ruddock was the minister for immigration. We think it is an entirely sensible course of action to continue to use that standard.
No comments