David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move amendment (1) on sheet 1811:

(1) Page 7 (after line 33), at the end of the Bill, add:

Schedule 2 — Character test

Migration Act 1958

1 After subsection 501(7)

Insert:

(7AA) Paragraphs (7)(c) and (d) do not apply in relation to the following:

(a) a person for whom a protection finding within the meaning of subsections 197C(4) to (7) has been made;

(b) a person in respect of whom Australia has non-refoulement obligations;

(c) a person who is stateless;

(d) a person who has arrived in Australia and has been granted a visa on humanitarian grounds.

Whilst I agree with what the minister is saying about the expectation of Australians, I do think that in this debate we need to be able to talk about getting that balance right. From reading this legislation, I wholeheartedly agree that the Australian community should be protected from people who have committed serious crimes, but, when we're dealing with a person who is a refugee or a stateless person, they don't have anywhere else to go, and indefinite immigration detention seems like a very heavy penalty for a crime that carries a 12-month sentence. Does the government have a plan to make sure that we aren't locking people up for years and years should their sentence come to 12 months?