Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

By Senator Hanson-Young equating this government and the people who serve in this government with Nazi Germany and by using some of the most heinous crimes against women—rape, genital mutilation and other such torture—to try to suggest that this government and the men and women who serve this government are torturing and would support the torture of these women is utterly offensive.

In their speeches, both Senator Hanson-Young and Senator Milne have also made a series of extremely vague and unsubstantiated allegations that this legislation breaches international legal obligations, including non-refoulment. But as always, there was not one specific shred of evidence of which convention it breached or what section or precedent it may breach. Again, there was nothing from those on the other side except overblown hyperbole and rhetoric.

Last year's legislation reintroduced temporary protection visas, and they are now a critical component of the government's key objective to process the current backlog of illegal maritime arrivals. To me, this is a humane outcome. Under the previous government—that they supported—and its legislation it could take up to seven years to process people. That is not a humane outcome.

The legislation also included the introduction of the fast-track system, amongst other measures to achieve this. As a result of that legislation—pleasingly and wonderfully—the number of children in detention has fallen from a high of nearly 2,000 under the previous government to less than 120 today, as I understand it. And action is now being taken to get the remaining number out of detention.

This bill before the Senate today is another crucial step in ensuring a safe and secure Australia, and it is one of a raft of measures to resolve the immigration status of the illegal maritime arrivals legacy caseload—a disgraceful 30,000 people—who arrived under the previous Labor government with the support of the Greens. Thirty thousand people were waiting up to seven years to have their claims processed. That is not humane!