Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Migration Amendment (Bridging Visa Conditions) Bill 2023, and I have to say I agree with everything that Senator Cash has just said in this chamber. Since this happened last week, my office has been inundated with phone calls, emails and letters from the general public stating their concerns with regard to these people and how this situation came to happen. Senator McKim stood up and said: 'But these are innocent people. They are refugees.' They are not refugees. These are people that are in the country illegally. They are not Australian citizens. They have been here for years. Do you know why? They have destroyed their identification documents. We don't even know who a lot of them are because they came to this country having destroyed their identification documents. If you were truly a refugee and in fear for your life, you would have no problem explaining to the authorities who you are and why you are here.

A lot of them are economic refugees, and we know that some have passed through many other countries to get here. They paid people smugglers to get here, and we now find that these people are nothing but criminals like paedophiles. Senator Pratt is humming and hawing over there about what I'm saying. Are you denying it? Through the chair, has Senator Pratt anything to say on why she does not believe that they are criminals? That's been reported, and it is quite well know that they are criminals.