David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I want to echo the comments of my colleagues in this debate, each and every one of them. What we are seeing with this bill is Labor and the coalition engaging in a Murdoch fuelled cruelty contest—that is what this is—and using dozens and dozens of refugees, people who came to this country seeking our protection, as political pawns in their contest of cruelty to see who can have the least principles. We're seeing who can place politics above principle and decency in the most shameful possible way. For the Labor government, with all the resources of government behind it, led by the scruff of the neck by the ugliest, nastiest parts of the coalition in responding to the High Court judgement says so much about Labor. Labor are so desperate not to be seen as having any gap between them and the coalition that they've become the coalition when it comes to this policy. Not only could Dutton have written the Migration Amendment (Bridging Visa Conditions) Bill 2023 and the amendments to it, but the amendments actually have been written by Dutton.