Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Migration Amendment (New Maritime Crew Visas) Bill 2020. This is an important bill. It will help plug Mr Morrison's huge gaping hole in our border security at our maritime ports. Mr Morrison's a man who's got a trophy in his office of a boat, and it says, 'I stopped these.' You'd think that Mr Morrison would want to stay on top of emerging maritime border security threats. You would think that Mr Morrison would be doing everything he can to fight crime. But are we seeing this kind of behaviour from Mr Morrison? As Senator Sterle says, no, we are not. In fact, Mr Morrison has had a few bad weeks in one area where prime ministers really should not have a bad week, and that is in national security.

Many Australians will remember thinking how odd it was that Mr Morrison pushed his way into a press conference with the Australian Federal Police just two weeks ago. This was a press conference three years in the making for the AFP after they had worked diligently on Operation Ironside, working hand in glove with the FBI and state and territory police. The AFP were ready to tell their story to Australians about their extraordinary work, which has put such an incredible dent in the operations of some of Australia's most notorious drug barons. But what happened? Obsessed with photo opportunities, Mr Morrison stormed his way into the AFP's press conference, elbowing everyone out of the way, and took credit for years of hard work by the Federal Police. I'm sure it hasn't gone unnoticed that this press conference seemed to magically occur just in time for Mr Morrison to fly out of Sydney for the G7. The story appears in the morning papers, he jumps into the press conference, and then Mr Morrison runs out so that he can get on his plane onwards to the G7. What a coincidence. How extraordinary. Of course, I am hopeful that the Prime Minister did not seek to adjust any aspect of the AFP's media plan that day to suit his own political purposes. I certainly hope the AFP did not adjust any of its media plans to accommodate the Prime Minister, especially if the changes meant any officers might be put at risk.

But Mr Morrison did not stop just at hogging the limelight; he went further. Mr Morrison chose to use that moment to flat out lie about our national security, not once, not twice but three times. Mr Morrison lied when he said—