Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Paterson, I move:

That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs, by no later than midday on Wednesday, 28 February 2024, the email and attached document 'operational plan in the event of a loss' sent on 3 November 2023 from the acting First Assistant Secretary Immigration Policy, Integrity and Assurance to the Minister for Home Affairs and the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs' offices in relation to the NZYQ case.

Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting this motion. Our government's No. 1 priority is to keep the Australian community safe. Australians know that this was a decision of the High Court of Australia and that no parliament and no minister is above the law. The safety of the Australian community has been at the heart of every single decision this government has made. Following the High Court's decision we immediately stood up Operation AEGIS. This brought government, law enforcement and security agencies across the nation together. We have put in place four layers of protection: preventative detention, community safety supervision orders; electronic monitoring devices and curfews; and stringent visa conditions. We have set up a community protection board which places advice from our trusted law enforcement and security agencies at the centre of decision-making. We have invested a quarter of a billion dollars to arm our agencies and law enforcement. We have given our agencies the tools they need to enforce strict laws we passed in parliament last year. Our law enforcement agencies, the AFP and ABF, along with their counterparts in states and territories, are working around the clock to enforce this strict regime.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Greens will not be supporting this motion because we do not support the playbook being adopted by the opposition here, which is to weaponise the High Court's decision on NZYQ. We have seen this happen time after time in this place: migrants, people seeking asylum, refugees, and migration and multiculturalism more broadly are weaponised by the opposition. They are credulously and enthusiastically reported by far too much of the media in this country, and then Labor goes to water and fails to stand up against that weaponisation. That is how we end up with thousands of lives being destroyed in offshore detention, people being murdered and raped, and children subjected to child abuse and, in some cases, child sex abuse. The Greens are not going to have a bar of that race to the bottom.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that general business notice of motion No. 466 standing in the name of Senator Paterson and moved by Senator Cadell be agreed to.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senators, I advise that there may be further divisions, and I will go back to government business No. 1, standing in the name of Senator Chisholm.