Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

It is always interesting to follow on from those opposite when it comes to bashing refugees. Just when you thought this government could not lurch any further to the right, they go and smash it out of the park. Whenever the polls get worse for the Turnbull government, what does Mr Turnbull do? He goes to border protection or national security. That is what he does each and every time. Hold onto your hats, because Mr Turnbull is again willing to compromise on his principles. In fact, I should correct myself. I do not think Mr Turnbull has any principles anymore. 'Whatever it takes' is Mr Turnbull's new mantra. Quite frankly, it is a very sad day when the Prime Minister of this country is willing to go this far.

Let me be clear regarding this important issue from the outset: Labor has made clear our commitment to offshore processing and regional resettlement, combined with the policy of turning back boats to ensure people smugglers are denied their trade in exploiting vulnerable people. We have also made clear our view that we have a special obligation to ensure those most vulnerable people are not subjected to any further harm or violence. Labor will never put people smugglers back in business. Despite what those people on that side say, I will make it very clear: Labor will never put people smugglers back into business.

The government has had three years to secure durable and credible third-country resettlement options for refugees living in Australian funded offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru, but they have failed to announce any arrangements and are desperate to distract from that fact. That is what was behind this thought bubble that Malcolm Turnbull pulled out of the air last Sunday. Labor is one with the government when it comes to protecting our borders and shutting down the people-smuggling trade; that is very clear. But let us consider this life ban. It is ridiculous, for example, to suggest that a former genuine refugee who becomes a citizen in either the US or Canada will be banned for a lifetime from entering Australia under tourism or business visas in the next 20, 30 or 40 years time. It is absurd and it just reflects the desperation of this Prime Minister.

This legislation is designed for one purpose only, and that is to distract from Dutton's and Turnbull's complete failure to secure permanent third-country resettlement arrangements and get people out of Nauru. It is this government's failure, and that was the motivation behind this absurd policy bubble that was grabbed out of the air. This is government is so desperate. It has a desperate Prime Minister leading it, trying to shift the focus from his government that is dysfunctional and in complete chaos. This government fails to recognise the proud history of migration to this country. Refugees have gone on to achieve amazing things in their adopted country—people like Frank Lowy or those doctors that work at the Launceston General Hospital or at the Royal Hobart Hospital. Right around this country refugees who have come to this country have contributed greatly to the country that we are today, and we should be proud of that. We have a proud history to defend. But this government is responsible for this and says it is okay because ministerial discretion could apply in certain visa circumstances.

Let us be clear: it would be up to the minister of the day to use his or her discretion to allow a former refugee who has made an outstanding contribution to wherever they have been relocated. If they wanted to come out here to a conference as a visiting doctor, they would not be able to unless they got ministerial approval. This is such ad hoc, absurd, dysfunctional rhetoric from this government that goes from one crisis to another. They have no plan. They have no vision. As I said in my speech yesterday, this is a Prime Minister who had a plan to become Prime Minister. Yes, he succeeded in becoming the Prime Minister, but he will go down in history as one of the worst Prime Ministers this country has ever seen.

We cannot possibly trust Mr Dutton to make decisions in the national interest. Heaven forbid! To think that some people are counting numbers for him to take over from Malcolm Turnbull is quite absurd. It is nearly as bad as this policy and this legislation that they want to put in. This is a minister who is completely incompetent. Frankly, I do not know how he has been able to retain the confidence of the Prime Minister. But I really do know how he has been able to manage that: he needs his numbers to keep his job.

There are many problems with an indefinite ban on refugees. For example, as I said, it could be a doctor coming out to a medical conference. It could be an elite athlete who wants to come out to compete at the Commonwealth Games. But, no, that may not necessarily happen. We are supposed to trust this government or a future government, whoever that may be, to allow that in the future.

If former refugees already have family who have been able to migrate and live in this country, they would not even be able to visit their family. So firstly, according to this legislation, a surgeon or a doctor visiting to attend a medical conference would not be able to re-enter or come to Australia. If you are an elite athlete who happens to be a refugee currently on Manus Island and you relocate to Canada, the US or anywhere else, you would not be able to come to this country. If you have family already living here, you would not be able to come to this country. This is absurd.

We know that whenever this government is in trouble—as it appears to be every single day with its chaos and with the shambolic, dysfunctional government that it has proven to be—then what does it do? Either it goes for border protection as an issue or it goes to refugees. What it has done here is quite ludicrous.

Rather than playing petty politics, muddying the waters about rumoured third-country deals and doing One Nation's bidding, the government should be focusing on securing third-country resettlement options. This government should be focused on getting refugees off Manus Island and Nauru. People have been held in indefinite detention for too long because this government has failed to secure viable alternative countries to resettle these refugees in.

As part of the public discussion this week, the government have repeatedly claimed that this legislation is needed to secure third-country resettlement options. But they have provided no credible evidence that any of these agreements are pending. We are not even sure—one minister says one thing and the Prime Minister says something else. Then you have another minister with a completely different view on what this legislation is going to be. But when this policy was first released by the desperate Prime Minister of this country—the Liberal Prime Minister of this country—not only was I shocked, and my family, but so were my neighbours. I have been inundated in my office with emails and phone calls from people who say that this is just a bridge too far. That is what I came out with on the Sunday when this was announced. I thought I was hearing things. How could a desperate government be so foolish as to want to take this step—a bridge too far?

Now, I have supported the Labor Party's decision to back the government when it comes to turning back the boats. I understand that, and we certainly do not want people smugglers back in business. But colleagues in this chamber and, I know, the people in my community—Tasmanians—are right behind me when I say that this is a bridge too far. Enough is enough.

I know that every senator in this place and, I am sure, every House of Representatives member in the other place, would be inundated with phone calls and emails as well. But I know that—