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

Pursuant to contingent notice standing in the name of Senator Waters, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me from moving a motion to provide for the consideration of a matter, namely a motion to give precedence to a motion to remove the Migration Amendment (Removal and Other Measures) Bill 2024 to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

I've seen some remarkable moments in politics, but last night the evidence of the government, the minister and the senior officials from Home Affairs about this bill was extraordinary. It was extraordinary in the lack of information they had about what on earth is urgent in this bill, who the bill will apply to and what the potential scope of the minister's powers will be. You would think that a competent government which is seeking to ram legislation through in less than two days would at least have a credible argument about why it is urgent. But, astoundingly, neither the minister nor the secretary nor any senior official could come up with a credible reason why this legislation was being rammed through in less than two days. Not one credible reason.

It wasn't as though they weren't given opportunities. The opposition asked repeatedly, 'Please give us a reason for saying why this is urgent.' There was no credible answer from Home Affairs. When we asked which categories of visa-holder this law would apply to and what the numbers were, we got confused and bemused looks from Home Affairs. They had no answer to even the most basic questions about who the bill would apply to. They think it will apply to people in detention; maybe it will apply to some people who were the subject of last year's High Court case, but they would investigate that over the next two months; it could apply to other people on bridging visas, but they can't tell us who. And they want us to ram it through as though it is urgent.

Rarely have I seen more collective incompetence than we saw from Home Affairs and the government last night. And this is the big political moment. This is apparently the big political play from Labor this week: they have got this tough-on-refugees, tough-on-asylum-seeker laws. They're beating their chests. This is their big political play, and it was pathetic. It was worse than pathetic. It was actually grossly negligent in the incompetence that they showed.

Then we asked who they had consulted on the bill. Had they consulted any NGO? Had they consulted the UN High Commission? Had they consulted anybody outside government on a bill that they want to ram through with no public consultation at all. The incredible answer was 'nobody'. They have spoken to nobody about this cunning plan of theirs. It turns out, when you put the microscope on their cunning plan, it's not very cunning at all.

This is the lowest, most base level of public policy being driven by the Albanese Labor government for only one reason. That became so clear last night. This isn't about keeping Australia safe. This isn't about some credible responsible to a crisis in migration. This is a pure political play that's unravelling as we watch. This is about Labor trying to outflank the coalition and move to the right of the coalition in a bill that they seem to have just made up in some long late-night drinking session and then brought to the parliament. You couldn't make this stuff up. This is meant to be a government that's now run by adults, but this was like some sort of kiddie's crayon drawing being brought into parliament and then defended by embarrassed officials and half-briefed ministers. That's what we got last night.

It would be negligent of this Senate to pass this bill on the half-baked assurances, incomplete information and close to riddles we got last night from Home Affairs. It would be negligent for us. So we are moving that the provisions of the Migration Amendment (Removal and Other Measures) Bill 2024 be referred immediately to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 24 June 2024. I'd love to just move that we just whack it straight in the bin, because that's where it should go—actually, pop it in recycling. We're Greens. Pop it in recycling. But that's where this should go. Go back home. I say to the government: don't pass Go; go directly to jail with this bill.