Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition today have moved an amendment that was not a priority for them when they were in government. They only had nearly 10 years to do so! If it were a priority for the coalition, now the opposition, they would have passed it when they actually had the power to do so, in any one of the nearly 10 years that they were in office. In fact, after the then government finally got around to introducing amendments of this kind, they had four years and three immigration ministers to progress them. They sent the bill that this amendment now comes from to three Senate inquiries. So the now opposition had ample opportunity to do this at any point while they were in government, but they chose not to do so and not to make it a priority. Now, all of a sudden, they've decided it is a priority.

The Australian community has a reasonable expectation that noncitizens who seek to enter or remain in Australia are of good character and are law-abiding. That is a reasonable expectation from the Australian community. Similarly, Australians expect that any noncitizens who are not of good character will be refused a visa or have any visa they hold cancelled. That is a logical conclusion that Australians would make. This bill does not change the framework within which the character test operates. It allows for the continued effective administration of the powers in the Migration Act by ensuring that aggregate sentences are considered sentences, thereby restoring the ability to rely on substantial criminal record as an objective measure for the purpose of the character test.

This government is taking urgent common-sense action in response to a recent court decision in order to keep our community safe. We're not here to debate the broader character framework; we're here to clarify the powers in the Migration Act. For those reasons, we will be opposing the amendments and the opportunistic politics of those opposite.