Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

) ( ): The minister says that the coalition is wrong in its summation of the explanation. This is a minister who, quite frankly, was part of a government that said that there would be no carbon tax under it, so I personally would put weight on the fact that the coalition is actually right in relation to its summation of the legislation because this government has been proven to have lied to the Australian people time and time again. The minister also says, by way of his explanation for this regulation, that this is a way of allowing the department to now manage the situation. I say this to the minister: perhaps if you had not rolled back the Howard government's strong border protection policies, we would not be in the position that we are in today in having to debate a regulation that is effectively going to get rid of mandatory detention in Australia. Perhaps if you had not rolled back the Howard government's strong border protection policies, the other day we would not have had to appropriate yet a further $1.67 billion of Australian taxpayer money for the infrastructure on Nauru and Manus Island. Perhaps if you had not rolled back the former Howard government's strong border protection policies, there would be an additional amount of over $6 billion for this government to put towards issues like health services, more hospitals and schools, which the Australian taxpayer actually needs.

But instead, because of the government's gross incompetence when it comes to managing Australia's borders, we have now seen in excess of 30,000 people come to Australia by boat, and this regulation merely gives the people smugglers another product to sell. It allows the people smugglers to say to irregular maritime arrivals who will be here, 'Once you have a bridging visa and you have been let out into the community, guess what: you are not going back into detention'. That is exactly what the minister has just confirmed. He has actually confirmed that the whole reason why the government is bringing in this regulation is: it does not want to have to send people back into detention.

I know why the government does not want to have to send people back into detention. It is because there are no beds at all in detention. Christmas Island is now at capacity. On Christmas Island people are now back in tents, and we all know what happened the last time that people were in tents on Christmas Island as that script has already been written for the Australian people. There were mass riots on Christmas Island. Untold damage was done to Australian taxpayer property on Christmas Island. Because of the sheer quantities of people that were coming here by boat the detention centre could not cope. So when the minister stands up and says that one of the reasons for this regulation is to allow the department to better manage the bridging visa process, I have to say that it is one of the poorest excuses that I have ever come across in my life. In fact, it is an absolute cop-out given the real reason that this regulation has been brought before the Senate. The government has completely, totally and utterly failed when it comes to managing our borders, and that is the reason why the minister, instead of revisiting a decision and then personally making it himself—as section 195A of the Migration Act states the minister should do—he has thrown his hands up in the air and he has said, 'It is all too much for me.'

The reason it is all too much for the minister is the sheer quantity of numbers. There is no other reason at all. If you had only a trickle of boats coming to Australia, the minister, quite frankly, could personally exercise his discretion under section 195A of the act. But when you have the sheer quantity of people coming to Australia and you have no further beds in detention, you only have to look at the minister's announcement today. In Tasmania they opened Pontville, they closed Pontville and—guess what—they have re-opened Pontville today because there are just no beds in the detention network so they have now had to re-open a detention centre that they had closed.

When you have a detention centre system that is now crumbling under political incompetence, you make the decision that the minister has made. When someone comes here, you get him in and out of Christmas Island as fast as you can because the longer they are there the more likely it is that another boatload of people are going to arrive and you are not going to have anywhere to put them. So you get them into Christmas Island and then you get them on to the Australian mainland as fast as possible. You might select one in 500-odd—I do not know the number—who might go to Nauru or who might now go to Manus Island, but the majority—in fact, almost all—of the people who are arriving on Christmas Island are then coming straight to the Australian mainland.

We all know what happens when they come to the Australian mainland. They get released into the community, they are able to live, they are able to work and they are effectively Australian residents indefinitely. That is because by this regulation the minister is saying, 'I don't need to deal with these people anymore. I've had enough of them. There are too many of them. I can no longer cope because our detention network is at capacity'—and the minister is right about the detention network because goodness knows where they would actually put them. That is a nightmare for the government. Could you imagine if that were to actually occur? He has delegated, he has relegated and he has abrogated—you name it and the minister has done it—his duty to unelected public servants. Section 195A of the Migration Act is very clear. This is a personal power of the minister. The parliament has expressly given the minister this personal statutory authority and regardless of what Minister Ludwig says on his analysis of the regulation you need to remember that Minister Ludwig is part of a government that said there would be no carbon tax at all 'under our government' and, lo and behold, Australians have not only a carbon tax but a carbon tax under which the price on carbon is going to be going up and up and up despite what is going on in Europe and despite the fact that a recent poll has shown that 38 per cent of Australians now believe that they are worse off because of Labor's carbon tax.

Why would you believe a minister who has the audacity to be part of a government whose leader said to the people prior to the Australian election, 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead,' and who then comes in here and tries to fudge his way through the reasons for this regulation?

It is very simple. The Labor government thought they were smarter than the Howard government. They thought: 'The Howard government stopped the boats. They may have stopped them but we can do one better than that.' We all remember what happened in August 2008. Mr Rudd said: 'I'll show that Mr Howard. Not only did he give the people a $22 billion surplus; he stopped the boats. But I can do better than that.' And I have to say that they have, but not in a good way: net debt is $150 billion or $157 billion today, and for gross debt you can add another billion dollars onto that; lift the debt ceiling three times; and wind back the proven border protection policies of the Howard government. Fast forward four years, and guess what? That is the reason we are standing here today: not because the government has suddenly worked out what to do with immigration policy in this country but because the government has shown that it is completely incompetent when it comes to managing Australia's borders. They are desperate.

They are so desperate that a minister—quite frankly, when you become a minister, you are actually normally quite proud that you have been given by the parliament certain responsibilities, statutory authority, under acts of parliament. Most ministers like to exercise the personal responsibilities that the parliament has given to them as ministers. But not this minister. I have to say that you almost have to feel sorry for Minister Bowen because, if there were any portfolio that you would not want in government, this is it. He cannot give this portfolio away, for very good reason.

That is why we are here today: because the Labor government have failed yet again to secure our borders and, as a result, over 30,000 people have come to Australia by boat. As I said, the minister has today effectively conceded that the immigration detention network is not just at breaking point but actually broken. Let us be real about this. It is no longer at breaking point. The immigration detention network in Australia has effectively crumbled under the weight of Labor government incompetence. There is no room at Christmas Island. People are in tents. There is literally a simmering pot of tension on Christmas Island. As a result of that, here we are, talking about this regulation. As I said, the minister has thrown up his hands and said, 'It's all too much for me.' He has abrogated the responsibility given to him, regardless of what Minister Ludwig says. Under section 195A of the Migration Act he has delegated his personal statutory responsibility to a public servant. That public servant is not accountable to the parliament, as the minister is. In November 2011, the minister announced that they would be allowing detainees into the community, and Scott Morrison said:

Failed asylum seekers who arrive by boat will now be able to stay in Australia for years to pursue their claims through the Refugee Review Tribunal and endlessly in the courts, with broader grounds of appeal, while living and working in the community.

A Government who claims to want to provide a deterrent on boat arrivals would never do this.

Unfortunately, we are not dealing with a government that wants to do this. As such, the coalition does not believe that this regulation is in the national interest. It does not believe that this regulation is in the interests of good ministerial responsibility, and we urge the Senate to disallow this regulation.