Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Watt; I'm sure he'll have another opportunity. I'm going to say, back of the envelope, probably north of $20 million when you consider that we're talking about four years. But I actually want to go back to what I thought was a pretty extraordinary admission, if I heard you correctly, Minister, in an earlier contribution that you made. I'll phrase it as a question to you in case I have misheard you or misunderstood you. Have you informed the Senate that for the revenue of the four new judges, as I think you categorised them, you are relying on the massive hike in filing fees for migration matters in the Federal Circuit Court, which is currently the subject of a disallowance moved by Senator Griff? Did you just inform this chamber that, in order to put on the four new judges, you are relying on hitting people who wish to file migration matters? These people are overwhelmingly refugees, people seeking asylum in this country or temporary visa holders who want to file migration matters in this country. You've spent billions of dollars a year torturing refugees in offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru, you spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year on our punitive onshore immigration detention system and yet you want to hit up the same cohort of people with increased filing fees in the range of 450 to 500 per cent increases, which you are trying to introduce. You're saying that you need that revenue in order to pay the wages of four new judges. Is that what you just told the Senate? I will leave it there. If I'm accurate and I've understood you correctly, I will have a response. But is that right? Are you saying that you need that massive increase of nearly 500 per cent in filing fees for migration matters in the Federal Circuit Court, that you need that revenue in order to pay the wages of four new judges? Is that what you just told the Senate?