Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question. The member for McMillan, a decent and honourable man, has exposed his party's negative immigration policy for what it is. It is a dog whistle. It is not a plan; it is a dog whistle. The Liberals are demonising thousands of people for cheap political purposes—cheap political purposes. One person is before the courts, and it would not be appropriate to comment further on that case. All people in Australia are subject to Australian law. The opposition's campaign of misinformation cannot be allowed to continue, and the member for McMillan is making that point.

These are the facts: before anyone is released from detention, they are subject to a security assessment, including identity checks. People on bridging visas are required by law to report to the immigration department regularly and to advise of any change of address. Any person in Australia is required to abide by the law. Failure to do so should result in criminal proceedings, no matter who they are. The opposition are cynically exploiting the incident which is before the courts, to cause fear and unrest in the broader community. And this continues their relentless negativity in opposition, in which they supported offshore processing but voted against it; they supported the increase in the humanitarian intake to 20,000 people and then changed their minds— (Time expired)