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

Thank you for the reminder, President. Again, I reject Senator McKim's premise in this question. This came down, purely and simply, to a matter of community safety. The government takes that seriously. We welcomed the support of the opposition in passing that legislation, which was necessary to ensure that the Australian community were safe. I find it interesting that the Greens Party want to go around saying to the Australian public that we should do nothing about the fact that 141 or 142 individuals with, in some cases, serious criminal offences, should be released into the community without any form of monitoring. That's what the Greens Party would have done. That's not the Australian government's position. I don't think that's what the community would expect, either. That's why we passed that legislation and will continue to refine it to make it protect people as best we can.