Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will just begin by acknowledging the work that Senator Hanson-Young has done this space, certainly advocating on behalf of those who take such tremendous risks to come to Australia. Senator, while I have not always agreed with your position, I think your passion on the issue is certainly inspiring.

I note the speech that was just delivered by Senator Ruston, and I note that it referred to some of the policies of the coalition government. I cannot help but accept that the coalition, as far as I see it, long ago dispensed with any decency on this subject. They have treated us all with contempt on this issue—contempt for public scrutiny, contempt for journalists and contempt for members of the public, and I believe contempt for those people from afar who have sought refuge, empathy and support among the people of this great country. And while I do affirm my respect and appreciation for Senator Hanson-Young and her work in this area, the Labor Party and I will not be supporting this Migration Amendment (Visa Maximum Numbers Determinations) Bill 2013 for a few reasons that I will try to summarise quickly.

As colleagues on both sides of the chamber have reminded us this morning, it was the Labor Party that introduced caps to visa programs in 1988. As my colleagues in this chamber have stated, discretionary caps allow the government of the day to determine both the quality and quantity of our migration. I think that is absolutely critical. As I said in a speech to this place yesterday, I am a very big advocate of the broad idea of increasing our overall migration levels. I think we should be looking at increasing the number of migrants we bring into this country. I am also quite supportive of the idea of increasing the number of refugees that we accept as a nation, but I believe that it has to be done as part of a coherent, whole-of-government approach and that the federal government—