Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Citizenship Repudiation) Bill 2023. As my colleagues Senators Cash and Paterson have said, this is a very important piece of legislation. Of course, any legislation that deals with the security of our nation is of the utmost importance. So I rise here in this place with great respect for the importance of getting this right. As Senator Paterson very eloquently pointed out in his contribution, this bill is important, but it does need some serious improvements. As Senator Cash was saying, those improvements are relatively modest in terms of the scale of the amendment, but they will have a profound impact once the legislation is implemented. It's important that the government gets this right. We as the opposition stand ready to work very constructively with the government today to ensure that this bill is able to pass expeditiously and that it's able to be done. But it can only be done if it's appropriately amended. If those amendments are able to be supported in this place, we'll be able to deal with it before the weekend and ensure that Australians are safe and that these measures are put in place.

What are we dealing with? On 8 June 2022, the majority of the High Court of Australia invalidated the ability of the Minister for Home Affairs under the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 to determine that a dual national who was engaged in terrorism-related conduct is no longer an Australian citizen. This decision has had significant implications for the government's ability to revoke the citizenship of dual nationals who are alleged to have engaged in terrorism-related conduct but who have not actually been convicted of an offence.

The curious thing to ask here, as we're looking at this, is: why has it taken the government so long? This is a serious situation that's been known to the government since 8 June—not this year and not five months ago but nearly 18 months ago. This was known to the government 17 months ago. So it is absolutely shameful that this government is not treating the security of Australians with the urgency and importance that it requires.

When it comes to this matter, this government is showing a pattern of behaviour that is of deep concern to me. I wonder why that is. Why is the government so slow to act? Then, when they do, why don't they fully step up to the plate and provide the total protections that are necessary to ensure the security and safety of Australians? I can only surmise, but my guess is that they are deeply divided. That is obvious. I think that all Australians can see that this government is deeply divided when it comes to needing to be tough and be strong.

The ministers like to betray a tough image when fronting up to a press conference or in question time or when delivering speeches in this place or the other, but when it comes to the substance of what they are delivering, they are found wanting. Minister Watt answered some questions on this and related matters yesterday—I think he used the words 'we are tough'. I couldn't help but chuckle. It's not a laughing matter, of course, but I couldn't help but see the ridiculousness of what he was saying, because his words—

That's right, Senator Brockman; I take that interjection. If you have to say it, then it can't be true. That's exactly right.

This government are not serious. They are demonstrating that with the legislation they have brought here. We had legislation brought into this place a week and a half or two weeks ago in relation to the indefinite detention of people who had been released. At the beginning of that week they said there was no legislative fix for it. By the end of the week they had some legislation that was half-baked, to their credit. But they shouldn't have been there. They shouldn't have had to rely on that. They worked with us. We put forward through Senator Paterson and Senator Cash some serious amendments, proper amendments, led by Opposition Leader Dutton that dealt with the seriousness of the case. The government took them on board.

Who is leading here? It certainly not Mr Albanese. He is lost at sea when it comes to this. Why is that? He has been a bit distracted lately. He has been distracted, whether it was by the Voice or his numerous significant overseas trips. He is not focused on the real, serious issues, domestic issues such as the cost of living and other matters that are of real concern to Australians. But there is no more important matter than matters of national security. So here we are.

We have a few more days of parliament left before we all go back to our homes and spend some precious time with our families over Christmas and connecting with our communities. We've spent a lot of time here in Canberra over the last few months. It will be great to get back to Western Australia, where I am from, and get out and about and meet with people in the community.

We don't have much time left before we all venture off and do that, and with the parliamentary year about to conclude, the government decided all of a sudden, following the High Court's decision on the NZYQ case, that it would rush this legislation into the parliament—through the House and then here today. It wants us to push this bill through without the scrutiny of a parliamentary committee. I think the amendment Senator Paterson has foreshadowed is a very important one. Even though we are hoping we can get this bill passed with the amendment today, it will still be subject to a retrospective inquiry, somewhat unusually, given it will pass. A serious inquiry will be needed to make sure about any further amendments that are required in order to strengthen and cover off anything that might have been missed. Of course, when you rush stuff through, there's a good chance that things will be missed.

As the opposition, we have put forward some things that the government have missed, things that they should be addressing and that could be included now. But other matters, should there be any, could be exposed through an inquiry. Sensible amendments could be brought forward, and I am sure the opposition would continue to work very constructively with the government on these matters, as it has done, to ensure that those matters could be dealt with.

The home affairs minister and the immigration minister have been caught seriously flat-footed in relation to immigration and citizenship matters. Labor is asleep at the wheel when it comes to immigration and national security. The Prime Minister, as I've said, has been distracted. We've got to get serious. You've got a chance over the Christmas break to re-evaluate how you're leading this country. The Prime Minister might get a chance to put his feet up somewhere, and I hope that, when he does—and I certainly wish him and all those he is close to a very Merry Christmas—he gets the chance to seriously rethink how he is leading this country. There are some serious deficiencies in the way he is leading, and he needs to get serious about managing the important issues in this country.

The government was asleep at the wheel when it came to dealing with organised crime through the visa system. It sat on the Nixon report for six months instead of taking action to address abuse of the visa system. While the government was doing nothing about the Nixon review, 11,023 additional asylum seekers lodged their claims in Australia. The total number of asylum seekers in Australia grew to more than 105,000, and more than 320,000 additional international students arrived. This government was asleep at the wheel when the High Court decision in the NZYQ case was handed down. That has seen 141 hardened criminals released into the community.

In that matter, the government had time. The Chief Justice gave an indication that there was a chance that these people would be released, yet the government did nothing. Even if there had been only a one per cent chance that the High Court would make the decision that they ultimately made, the government should have been 100 per cent ready to deal with it. That's the role of government. It is the role of a responsible government to be ready even for things that you think might not happen. Contingencies are necessary because the safety of Australians matters more than anything else. If it means that you as a government need to spend some extra hours working and putting the Public Service to the task of drafting the legislation, then that's what you do. That's what you've been elected by the Australian people to come here and do.

Seriously this government is just not focused on what matters to Australians. In the space of two weeks, the government said that it wasn't possible to legislate a response to the decision, but then it was possible to legislate. Then the government introduced a second bill because the first one was so poorly written. This stuff matters. You can't just come in here, hold a press conference or stand up at question time and answer one of our questions and say, 'We're a tough government.' When you bring in this legislation which is poorly and hastily drafted and which is rushed through the parliament, you can't be taken seriously by the Australian people because your actions are demonstrating that you're not actually taking it seriously. The government has been asleep at the wheel on so many issues, and I am concerned about the message that it is sending to criminals, particularly those criminals who might want to prey upon the vulnerabilities of refugees and asylum seekers and try to persuade them to get on boats to get to Australia because of the loopholes that you're leaving open through the immigration system, and through the corrections and detention system. You're leaving these gaps open.

This bill is important, as I stated. We as an opposition seek to work constructively with the government. We hope that we can get through amendments that are going to strengthen this bill. If more is required through the inquiry process going forward, I'm confident—particularly as that will be in the hands of Senator Paterson and Senator Cash—that we will work constructively with the government to ensure that the bill is further strengthened. Today is an opportunity. Let's get it done. I encourage the government to work with us. I encourage Mr Albanese to take his job seriously. Work with the opposition. We want to do that so that we can get this bill strengthened and passed today.