Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is a very important amendment to a bill. I see it as a continuation of the support for border control and stopping the boats, which has been a totally successful aspect of how this country runs itself. I see it as a very important part of Operation Sovereign Borders, of which I was co-author and one of the people who made that policy work. This is probably the single most successful policy with regard to this country defining itself as a sovereign nation, and sovereign nations control their own borders.

Greens and Labor got that appallingly wrong over a very long period of time. We have just heard Senator Faruqi say that these are political games we're playing, and all that we care about is exploiting newcomers to this country. What an appalling statement. What an absolutely appalling statement. I took part in Operation Sovereign Borders for the simple reason that Labor and the Greens had caused the deaths of 1,200 people through their incompetence in applying border controls. Time and time again, we have saved many multiples of that 1,200 that were lost at sea—women and children—who our sailors saw on a daily basis rotting in the sea and taken by sharks.

This is an essential manifestation of being a sovereign country, and there are various reasons that we can look at as to why we should proceed with this bill, the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2019, and with this amendment.

The first one is that it is a national security issue. The people of Australia must have faith that the borders will be controlled. Border control is not an easy policy; it is a difficult policy, and there are aspects of it which are very, very unpleasant. For the Australian people to have faith in how our borders are managed, it is critically important that we continue to maintain them. Criminals or non-Australians who do not subscribe to the Australian way of life, which is to obey the law, have no right to remain in this country. So that's the first point.

I can hardly hear myself talk. I wonder if there could be some quiet, please?