Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 163 standing in my name for today relating to border control.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) after six years under this Liberal-National Government's watch, from 1 July 2014 to 31 August 2019:

     1. 95,943 people have come through Australia's airports and sought asylum, as is their right to do, and

     2. in nearly the same period, bridging visas have blown out from 94,000 to almost 230,000 – an increase of over 140%,

  (ii) of the protection visa applications decided by the Department of Home Affairs in that period, 62,732 – 84.2% – were rejected,

  (iii) those waiting in Australia on a bridging visa as their claims for asylum are assessed are often being exploited and trafficked by labour hire companies and criminal syndicates,

  (iv) stakeholders have expressed concern as racketeering around visas and asylum applications have been allowed to flourish,

  (v) the Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs, Mr Wood, remarked on the blowout of airplane arrivals and stated 'Organised crime and illegitimate labour hire companies are using this loophole...', and

  (vi) the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Dutton, stated that: '...If you cannot control your borders, you cannot govern the country'; and

(b) condemns the Morrison Government and the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Dutton, for losing control of Australia's borders and allowing exploitation, slavery and trafficking to go unchecked, having a devastating impact on workers and their families, and the ability to do basic mathematics and provide accurate data to the Senate on the number of people who have been trafficked to Australia under their watch.