Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I'm not sure what the source of that information is, but every day the Department of Home Affairs takes action to remove from Australia people who have overstayed their visas. This government has made significant efforts to tackle the large amount of immigration that we have seen into Australia since COVID. We attempted last year to pass legislation to limit the number of international students in our universities, but of course that legislation was voted against by the coalition and, I think I'm right in saying, by One Nation. So, when we have made attempts to limit immigration in a way that the Australian community is seeking, that's been blocked or opposed by the very parties who are now asking questions about these issues.

As Senator Ayres has flagged, there is someone seeking election to the highest office in the land while also making secret promises behind closed doors to bring back visas for billionaires from overseas, and his name is Mr Peter Dutton. Mr Peter Dutton likes to go around pretending that he's tough on immigration while also boasting, as he recently did, of having allowed more people into Australia than any other immigration minister in Australia's history.

So let's take it a lot in perspective when it comes to what different parties are saying around migration. Some like to complain and miss the opportunity to vote for legislation designed to put some reasonable limits around immigration. Perhaps, the next time the government tries to do something about immigration levels, Senator Hanson and her friends in the coalition might decide to support what we're doing.