Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Yeah, right. Okay. Yeah, yeah—tell another one. Tell another one. They'll kick it off for four weeks and not deal with it today. Our advisers say that it does need to be dealt with and that it should be dealt with in this sitting week. We provided briefings to you. We provided the committee inquiry to you so that you could have that opportunity. I don't think there was anything that came through the committee process that indicated any reason to delay this. We've been working to improve the integrity of the migration system for the last 18 months. As we know, the Parkinson review, the Richardson review and the Nixon review all indicated that we had inherited a system that was broken. Where there are issues identified, loopholes that need to close and powers that need to be strengthened, as a government we will work carefully and methodically to deal with those. We will present that to the chamber and, in this case to the opposition. We presumed—wrongly, it seems—that they would want to work with us in the national interest to strengthen our security and our immigration system. We believed a mature opposition—and, perhaps again, that was our mistake—would actually work with us on this to deal with it quickly. Instead, we see an attempt to just kick it down the road. This is on your heads. The fact that we are leaving this bill unresolved until, at the earliest opportunity, budget week if you move your amendments. We know that budget week hardly deals with any legislation, so the chances are it will move beyond that as well.

We want to deal with it now. You are voting against that. You are voting to not deal with this and to weaken the system. Our officials have told us that this is a significant issue to resolve for the migration system's broader integrity. That is what you are voting against today. You are voting to delay it. We'll see the reasons why, no doubt, over the next four weeks, but there will be no more lectures from you on national security or strengthening our borders after today's vote.