Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I speak to the Migration Amendment (Charging for a Migration Outcome) Bill 2015 as chairman of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, which inquired into the bill. The committee looked at a number of the submissions, and I thank those who made submissions. We invited 151 people to submit and out of that we got I think 11 submissions. I thank those who did make a submission. I thank the secretariat and particularly the secretariat staff, who, as always, do a wonderful job in assisting the committee in reporting on these bills.

The committee made two recommendations, one of which was to ensure that a comprehensive consultation process was established and implemented with current and potential visa holders, employer groups and the migration advice profession to ensure that the changes proposed by the bill are well understood. The second recommendation of the committee was that the bill be passed.

This is another in the suite of bills proposed by the government intending to tighten entry into our borders. I think it is a very important part of the whole suite of measures coming forward. The committee recommended the adoption of the bill, and I also recommend to my colleagues that it should be adopted. I am pleased to see that the Labor Party is supporting the bill, as the Labor Party now do understand the importance of these measures. I appreciate their support. Because time is limited, perhaps I will not say much more except to repeat that the committee looked at all aspects of the bill and, subject to the recommendation that we have made, we recommended that the bill be passed.

Debate interrupted.