Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Migration Amendment (Repairing Medical Transfers) Bill 2019. It's always such a delight to follow on from Senator Rennick! His rhetoric is the same rhetoric we've heard in this place year in, year out. This bill acts to amend the Migration Act to extend existing powers in relation to persons transferred to Australia under the medical transfer provisions, allowing for their removal from Australia or return to a regional processing country once they no longer need to be in Australia for the temporary purposes for which they were brought. Those who follow this debate will be well informed and understand that refugee advocates and lawyers have argued that the current powers of return do not need classification and extend to persons transferred to Australia under the medevac legislation.

Labor has always been steadfast in our commitment to national security. That's the bottom line. You shouldn't be listening to anything that Senator Renwick has contributed to this debate because it's the same old rhetoric. I can assure you: Labor has always been steadfast in our commitment to national security. But we must not use national security as a weapon to conceal the truth or to be secretive. Labor has a commitment to two objectives with respect to the medical transfer of people from PNG and Nauru—first, to ensure sick people get the medical care that they need; and, second, to ensure the minister has final discretion over medical transfers on national security, public safety or character grounds. They are the facts, not those which Senate Rennick has put on to the public record. We should at least be honest in this debate.

In the face of repeated false claims by Minister Dutton about medevac, Labor has not yielded. Labor has insisted that medevac is necessary and is working. Consequently, Labor's objectives have not changed. Labor has argued, if the government has legitimate proposals to improve the operation of medevac, then Minister Dutton should put forward amendments, rather than simply seek to repeal the legislation in full. Minister Dutton has not sought to amend medevac. Instead, he has reverted back to a flawed medical transfer system, which was failing to provide adequate and timely medical care to refugees and asylum seekers in regional processing countries. It has, in fact, been failing the basic requirements that sick people get the medical care that they need. If Mr Dutton focused on his portfolio responsibilities instead of harassing Senator Hanson over the bill and her vote last week, then our immigration system would work much better.

Minister Dutton is one of those people who would stop at nothing to intimidate and coerce another individual. Labor are not confused about the actions Mr Dutton has undertaken to put pressure on senators in this place, but we are very confused as to Mr Dutton's thinking and actions on this bill. I don't think we are the only ones. I'm sure many Australians are confused by Mr Dutton. In fact, he's one of those names that regularly come to the fore when I'm in my community back in my home state of Tasmania. His name comes up regularly in conversations and, I would have to say, not in a positive manner. I can assure those opposite that Labor's objectives have not changed. In the face of repeated false claims by Minister Dutton about medevac, Labor has not yielded. We have been consistent and strong in our position, and Labor have been proven right. From the outset, Labor has insisted that medevac is necessary and is working. Doctors and other medical professionals have insisted that medevac is working. Even Mr Dutton has confirmed it's working, with his refusal to transfer a person of bad character. Minister Dutton changes his mind on a daily basis and I imagine he will do so on this bill again in the future.

I also note that the Senate inquiry report into the legislation shows that medevac is working, yet we have a government that is trying to dismantle it. Go figure! Who knows what to believe is happening with this bill! Senator Lambie has said that she has been asking for something. We know that she would like to negotiate around her support for this bill. But, while the government have been quite adamant that they will not be doing any deals and there will be no concessions, I know whose word I would accept, and that is Senator Lambie's—every time—over that of this government, which is devoid of integrity.

This place and the other place are still waiting on Mr Taylor to do the honourable thing and stand aside while the New South Wales Police investigate his alleged conduct in this matter. Labor is waiting on the Prime Minister to take action—that is, if he has time between his numerous phone calls to the New South Wales police commissioner—if Mr Taylor will not. We know the Prime Minister was pretty persistent on the phone, because he rang the police commissioner no less than three times. He obviously has him on speed dial! Mr Dutton has not sought to amend medevac. Instead, he wants to revert to the flawed medical transfer system that was failing to provide adequate and timely medical care to refugees and asylum seekers in regional processing countries. The minister is failing the basic test—that sick people get the medical care that they need and deserve.

We know the record of the Abbott and Turnbull governments—and now the Morrison government—when it comes to health care in this country for Australians. Remember when Mr Abbott went to the election and said that there would be no cuts to health, no cuts to hospitals and no cuts to the ABC? We know how that turned out, don't we? We have also seen that, when the Prime Minister was the Treasurer of this country, he was so good at making cuts to hospitals. We know he cut $1.2 billion out of the aged-care sector, and then what did he have to do? He had to call a royal commission into his own government's failings. So this government's record and that of the Abbott-Turnbull and now Morrison government, is very clear for everyone to see. They can't be trusted. They should never be trusted when it comes to Australians' health and they certainly cannot be trusted when it comes to refugees and asylum seekers; otherwise they would not try to go back to a flawed medical transfer scheme.

This issue, once again, comes down to Minister Dutton and the mismanagement and misrepresentations he makes. The mismanagement of his super department is unbelievable. How can the Australian people have faith in Minister Dutton to get the job done? Why would a government change policy when it's working and accomplishing what it was intended to do? How can the Australian people have faith in a minister to execute his duties when he routinely manipulates, misrepresents and mischaracterises the truth?

Let's talk about medevac, because on that question there is no doubt about what Minister Dutton's views are. When it comes to medevac, the Minister for Home Affairs has made several desperate and outrageous comments. In March, the Home Affairs Minister claimed medical transfers were going to displace Australians from hospitals—a claim disputed by doctors and hospitals across Australia. Minister Dutton is the minister for fear and smear. Mr Dutton said:

People who need medical services are going to be displaced from those services, because if you bring hundreds and hundreds of people from Nauru and Manus down to our country, they are going to go into the health network—

The minister argued that 'two doctors from Nimbin' could force the government to bring people from Manus and Nauru to Australia. These claims are simply not true—the minister has final discretion. He claimed that 1,000 people would flood Australia through medevac—that hasn't happened at all. Neither have his claims that people could be transferred without their consent occurred either. On Sky News in June, Minister Dutton said:

… people of bad character can come, are able to come and, in fact, are required to come under Labor’s laws that they passed. That’s the reality.

  …   …   …

I'm saying there are some—there are some 'people of bad character' who have come to our country.

But the Australian people saw Minister Dutton stop someone of bad character coming to Australia under the laws, so that is clearly false. It's clear that the Minister for Home Affairs is loose with the truth, just like Prime Minister Morrison. The Prime Minister is willing to say and do anything to demonise people. In February, when speaking about medevac, the Prime Minister said:

Someone who's a paedophile, who's a rapist, who has committed murder—any of these other crimes—can just be moved on the say-so of a couple of doctors on Skype.

If this is the type of prime minister he wants to be, then that is his prerogative, quite clearly. If he wants to remain on that low road of politics, then that's the type of prime minister Scott Morrison will be remembered for. The Prime Minister will be remembered as a power-seeking politician, walking the low road of fear.

I wish to put a few other facts on the table, because there's so much misinformation out there, mostly promulgated by the Morrison Liberal government. As of 17 October 2019, 132 people have been transferred to Australia under medevac. Now, 132 people is not the hundreds and hundreds of people that the minister was trying to convince the Australian people was going to be the result of this law. It is quite clear that the laws have been working and that the minister has the final discretion. That has been put into practice. These are the facts around this law. The reality is, when we have refugees and asylum seekers in Nauru and Manus, they deserve to have the health care that we are responsible for providing. Every single one of those transfers has been explicitly approved by the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Peter Dutton; the minister for immigration, Mr Peter Coleman; or by ministerial appointed doctors. They are the facts. So it doesn't matter if those on the other side of the chamber, on the government benches, want to chip in with some comments; those are the facts. Those opposite can't continue to try and spin, give mistruths and mislead the Australian people.

As of 26 August 2019, IHAP have considered 28 applications. Of those, 10 were recommended for transfer, and the minister's decision to refuse transfers was upheld in 18 cases—more evidence that the independent medical panel is working as it should. The IHAP includes some of Australia's most highly qualified and experienced medical practitioners, including the Commonwealth's Chief Medical Officer, the Surgeon General of the Australian Border Force, an AMA representative, the AMA ACT president, a paediatric health expert, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. These are well-qualified health professionals. These are not people who are going to flaunt the law. They will make recommendations based on their medical expertise. So it is disrespectful for those opposite and for a minister to mislead and tell untruths when these experts are the ones giving their professional opinion. At every step of the way, the government or government appointed doctors control who comes to Australia through medevac. That is a fact. The notion that the minister does not control who comes to this country and the manner in which they do is, frankly, inconsistent with reality.

The other convenient truth left out of this debate is that this minister, and the previous ministers, have transferred well over 1,000 people to Australia for medical treatment. Labor is confident that the Australian people will see through the mistruths that Minister Dutton is so capable of and is consistently spreading. Labor strongly supports medevac and we are not the only ones. Other stakeholders have said medevac should not be repealed. This includes the Royal College of General Practitioners, Amnesty International, the Uniting Church, the Human Rights Law Centre, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, the Law Council of Australia, St Vincent's Health Australia, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and the Australian Medical Students Association.

Under this third-term Liberal-National government, offshore processing has become indefinite detention. The architecture of border protection includes boat turnbacks where safe to do so, offshore processing and regional resettlement, all of which Labor strongly—I repeat, strongly—supports. Since the member for Dickson became the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection in 2014, he has failed, like so many other areas of policy, to do his job.

He has failed to deliver on the third country resettlement options, such as the New Zealand offer, which has been on the table since 2013. Ever since he became the minister responsible, he has left refugees to languish in indefinite detention. They are now in their seventh year in PNG and Nauru. It is why medevac was needed and required—to ensure that people who are sick receive the medical attention they require and so that they actually get the medical attention they deserve. These laws should not be repealed by the government. People who are sick should receive the medical attention that they need. It's that simple. It is very simple to make sure that these people are afforded the medical care that they need.

I leave you with one final thought. In the words of George Orwell, 'The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.'