Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A letter has been received from Senator Liddle:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion:

The Albanese Labor Government cannot be trusted to keep Australians safe.

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clocks in line with the informal arrangements made by the whips.

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The first job of any government is to keep its citizens safe. The Prime Minister promised to continue the coalition's important work to stop the boats, protecting Australia's shores and its people, yet we've just seen a boat funded by people smugglers and packed with asylum seekers land undetected on the remote north-west coast of Western Australia. Not detecting who's coming, which is a risk to biosecurity, is a big fail.

Then there is the Albanese government's bungle of the NZYQ case, where it released 149 detainees into our communities. They released seven murderers or attempted murderers, 37 sexual offenders and 72 detainees who'd been convicted of assault, kidnapping and armed robbery. Yet months later, despite having the tools to do so, this government has not yet sought orders to lock any of them back up. Not a single detainee has been redetained. How is doing nothing keeping Australians safe?

Another epic fail from this government was uncovered in recent Senate estimates. During the election, the Prime Minister announced that his Labor government would fund and deliver 500 new frontline family and domestic violence sector workers. Since then, there has been no urgency, action or progress. Almost two years since that election promise, this Labor government has delivered two workers of the 500 promised for work in community service areas, including in the key area of domestic and family violence. Again, how is doing nothing keeping Australians safe?

There's a domestic and family violence epidemic in this country. It's an issue that affects lives every single day. While the Albanese government, the public servants that serve it, and the state and territory governments procrastinated, women, children and vulnerable people have had to wait and wait and wait. The Albanese government, with its claim of transparency and integrity, espouses traits that its actions do not resemble. This self-proclaimed Labor government, elected on a promise of greater transparency and integrity, has offered no real insight into the progress of this election commitment, months and months and months after I sought information. There's a sector in need, there are people in need, and this government has failed to deliver. In the Northern Territory, police statistics show a 20 per cent increase in the incidence of family and domestic violence in a 12-month period. In all states and territories, the incidence of violence has gone up. After the NT, the states with the greatest increase are Tasmania and Western Australia. The evidence is indeed indisputable.

When this government, ably assisted by the Greens, ended the cashless debit card, driven by ideology, it allocated $217 million to change the card and many more millions to implement programs to deal with the fallout from its end. This Albanese government knew the removal of the card would wreak havoc on communities, and it has. This government put the safety of women, children and the most vulnerable behind its election commitment. Broken promises about lower mortgages, broken promises of a $275 reduction in electricity bills, broken promises on supporting the stage 3 tax cuts—those on the other side have unambiguous form on breaking promises. However, this is the one you should have broken—getting rid of the cashless debit card.

The cashless debit card, which limited spending on alcohol, gambling and drugs, was important in those communities that it existed in. Instead, what's left now is broken lives and broken spirits. In the towns that were trial sites, there is evidence of increased social unrest and violence. Businesses are hurting. Residents are hurting. The most vulnerable are hurting. Tell me where life is better for residents in those communities—not in Melbourne's Fitzroy, Queensland's West End or Sydney's Newtown but in the communities directly affected by the fallout.

You knew devastation would follow, because you invested in programs in the trial sites, and with that came more public servants and more Indigenous industry program providers. What about more politicians? When are you going to go and show your face in Ceduna, in the Goldfields or in the Kimberley to take a look at how your handiwork has improved the lives of those that live there? Save the jet fuel—it hasn't. Your actions did nothing to move the dial and improve lives for the people that live there. You did nothing that made lives safer or better. This is an overpromising, underdelivering government that Australians cannot trust to keep Australians safe. It's that simple, and the evidence proves it.

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to make a contribution on this matter of public importance that's being put by the opposition, on keeping Australians safe. When I first read about it I wasn't really sure whether it was a bit of a joke, because, quite frankly, the Albanese government has done everything that anyone would have expected of a Commonwealth government around protecting our national borders. It's really disappointing to see that the coalition is trying to politicise issues of national security once again. One can only think that there must be a by-election this coming weekend.

On this side of the chamber we take national security very seriously. Operation Sovereign Borders, for instance, is a very mature set of policies that the Labor Party supports and has been working with those opposite on for some time. In fact, Operation Sovereign Borders funding has increased under this government, by $470 million over the forward estimates, and we've invested more in his operation than any other government has previously. So we won't be providing a running commentary on operation matters, because we know that it will simply feed information for people smugglers, and that's the last thing we want to see happen yet again in this country.

But let me be very clear. Operation Sovereign Borders is better resourced and more supported by this government than it has ever been, and the government will continue its strong border protection measures.

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He's saying that with a straight face.

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am saying it with a straight face, because, quite frankly, it's a fact. More money is going into Operation Sovereign Borders than under your government. It is absurd that the opposition, the coalition, continue to misrepresent people and the government's approach to our border protection policy. The Leader of the Opposition should know better, given that he is a former home affairs minister and minister for defence. As we have heard in this place, Rear Admiral Brett Sonter, the commander of the Joint Agency Task Force with respect to Operation Sovereign Borders, has said very clearly:

The mission of Operation Sovereign Borders remains the same today as it was when it was established in 2013: protect Australia's borders, combat people smuggling in our region, and importantly, prevent people from risking their lives at sea.

Any alternate narrative will be exploited by criminal people smugglers to deceive potential irregular immigrants and convince them to risk their lives and travel to Australia by boat.

I don't think that quote could be any clearer. At the end of the day, we must prevent vulnerable people—those who are trying to seek asylum—from being deceived and exploited by people smugglers and risking their lives by crossing borders illegally.

The coalition, on the other hand, is determined to unravel Operation Sovereign Borders. It is worth noting recent comments by Australian Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram in which he also dismissed suggestions of a cut to the agency's funding and dispelled the opposition leader's claim:

Border Force funding is currently the highest it's been since its establishment in 2015 and in the last year the ABF has received additional funding totalling hundreds of millions of dollars to support maritime and land-based operations.

That is what the commissioner has said.

So my advice to those opposite, to the coalition, is quite simple: stop your destructive messaging to people smugglers and stop undermining our borders. The coalition are playing politics by using this Saturday's Dunkley by-election to spread false and misleading information for political purposes. The Albanese government remains committed to these policies that constitute Operation Sovereign Borders and will continue to facilitate the resettlement of refugees through the proper avenues.

The response of the government to unauthorised maritime arrivals is firm and robust, and we have been fairly clear about the message we are sending to people smugglers, including those who are seeking asylum. People who arrive by boat as unauthorised arrivals won't settle here. Any unlawful entrants into Australia will be taken offshore, and the government will provide humanitarian support to people who have been resettled or returned to their home country in line with our international human obligations. The government's policies in this space will continue to be guided by a commitment to protecting our borders and maintaining Operation Sovereign Borders.

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

I think everyone listening to this debate needs to be clear about what's going on here. This is yet another step down a dark and dangerous path that this country has been on for far too long. This motion before us today is not about keeping Australia safe. It's actually about base electoral politics. The motion before us today is about building a foundation for yet another LNP fear campaign based on demonising refugees—demonising people who seek asylum in this country—and based on attacking the very foundations of migration and multiculturalism that have served this country so well for so long and have helped to make this country into the vibrant place that it is today.

Make no mistake: the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Dutton, is a political vampire who feeds off the suffering of desperate and vulnerable people. His A game, his B game and his C game are all about fabricating and exploiting fear in our communities, and then turning around and laying all the blame for the fear that he has fabricated and sown on migrants and people who are not white in our country. This motion today is a dog whistle, a racist dog whistle, from a party that has brought us hysteria on the so-called African gangs. Recall Operation Fortitude. Recall the police-state policies and surveillance-state policies brought in under the previous government that erode fundamental human rights, and the rule of law and the very separation of powers that underpin Australia's democratic framework. Make no mistake: under Mr Dutton, we are going to see an election campaign that is based on fear and exploitation and is deliberately designed to weaponise the fear that he will sow, and weaponise it against migrant communities, refugees, people seeking asylum and the very fabric of multiculturalism in this society.

Well, the Australian Greens are going to stand up against it. We are going to stand up for refugees, for people seeking asylum, for multiculturalism and for migrants, because the Labor Party can't be trusted to do it because it is engaged in a race to the bottom on these issues with the LNP and Mr Dutton.

Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's worth recounting some history in regard to border policy, because I seem to remember it was a former Labor immigration minister that first put children in detention—a Labor minister by the name of Gerry Hand. That's something that today's Labor Party don't like to talk about. Of course, they completely forgot that in 2008 and 2009, under former prime minister Rudd. He engaged in a reckless policy that saw over a thousand people drown at sea.

That is something that the coalition has got a very proud record on. I will pick up Senator McKim, because, under former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser, we actually accepted a large number of refugees from Vietnam, for example. We have always participated in a very healthy refugee intake of almost 20,000 people a year, and I am led to believe that the former foreign minister Julie Bishop actually increased the number of refugees that were coming into Australia under the previous coalition government. So I don't think it's fair to accuse the Liberal Party of dog whistling on this at all.

I myself find it very offensive. I have spent seven years overseas and have travelled through many countries, so I get a little bit annoyed when, if you talk about trying to defend your own country's borders, somehow that makes you racist. That is not the case.

We know that strong borders save lives. You've only got to look at the large number of people who have drowned in the Mediterranean, and at the number of Africans who have tried to emigrate from Africa to Europe, to see the enormous political and social consequences of having an unregulated immigration rate.

At this stage, it hasn't yet blown out of control with Labor, but we do know that they cannot be trusted on the borders. They cannot be trusted to keep Australia safe when it comes to these issues. They were slow off the mark last year when it came to former criminals who were in detention, and they were released. The immigration minister had plenty of warning about this, but they didn't act. They were too busy focusing on the Voice and identity politics there, trying to divide Australia by race. Of course, we have always promoted the idea that there is one race, the human race, and that we should judge the individual, not the identity. That is actually what true liberalism is, if people stop to appreciate that. A true liberal democracy actually protects the individual and the family. That is what the Liberal Party should always strive for, regardless of race or identity. It's not us who play the identity politics and try and pit straight against gay, black against white, race against race. That sort of stuff I find abhorrent. The identity politics that is played by the Labor Party really needs to be called out.

There is another issue here, and it's the high immigration rate. When you've got a high immigration rate, you get large degrees of homelessness, and we're seeing that throughout Australia now. We are seeing tent cities popping up everywhere. That's endangering the lives of the homeless people who don't have a roof over their head and cannot lock their doors at night. That makes it very dangerous just to survive. Labor need to be called out about this. This isn't just about border protection. This is about dealing with a standard of living that guarantees that every Australian can have a roof over their head and walls around them every night, and they can lock their doors. Labor, for some unexplained reason, have never actually been held to account as to why they decided to have so many people immigrate to Australia straight after the COVID pandemic, when so many people were trying to recover and we clearly didn't have our industries back up and running to deal with a high immigration rate. Labor just did the massive immigration. Maybe they felt like they couldn't bluff Australians, so they needed to get immigrants in as quickly as they could and get them to sign up on the electoral roll so they could get their vote, and fool them, as they often do with immigrants in the first few years—and then, once the immigrants have stayed for a while, they quickly realise that Labor aren't the people that they pretend to be.

So I support this motion today. It is a fact that the Labor Albanese government isn't keeping Australians safe.

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to speak on this motion today and to be given an opportunity to set the record straight. Let me be very clear: the Albanese government do take the safety of Australians very seriously, and we are taking unprecedented measures to ensure that they are safe. This motion isn't about keeping Australians safe. This motion is about the same thing that we see from Peter Dutton and the LNP day in, day out, and that's negativity, stoking division. They've got no plans, but they're happy to come in here and divide Australians and bring up scare campaigns and use negativity to try to generate some sort of campaign for themselves. That's not what Australians need or want from this parliament, and it's certainly not what the Albanese government is focused on.

The Albanese government is focused on delivering for Australians, particularly when it comes to the cost-of-living pressures. But we are also focused on ensuring that Australians are safe. When it comes to a particular issue which comes up from time to time in this debate, around national security, I want to make it very clear that, under the Albanese government, border protection funding has never been higher. We saw debate and an intervention from the Leader of the Opposition this week about funding of Operation Sovereign Borders. I want to be very clear that the government remains absolutely committed to the policies that underpin Operation Sovereign Borders.

Let me make this very clear: border protection funding has never been higher. Since coming to government we have invested an additional $470 million over the forward estimates into this protection of Australians. That intervention from the Leader of the Opposition was very calculated, I would say, and it was unfortunate. It has ramifications not only for our agencies, who are working day in, day out to protect Australians, but for the safety of Australians themselves. We know that after those comments were made they were quickly dismissed, and I'm not talking about some politicians on this side of the chamber. Very soon after these comments were made we saw a statement from Commander Joint Agency Taskforce Operation Sovereign Borders, Rear Admiral Brett Sonter, that said:

The mission of Operation Sovereign Borders remains the same today as it was when it was established in 2013.

Let's be clear: Rear Admiral Brett Sonter is saying that Operation Sovereign Borders remains the same. He went on to say:

Any alternative narrative will be exploited by criminal people smugglers to deceive potential irregular immigrants and convince them to risk their lives and travel to Australia by boat.

That is what this type of misinformation does: it actually encourages the people smugglers. And that is coming from the commander of the taskforce in charge of Operation Sovereign Borders.

I want to say this as well. Community safety is a lot of things. Community safety also goes to social cohesion. What we've heard in this place from those opposite and some on the crossbench is a complete disregard for the fact that words in this parliament matter. Words in this parliament have an impact on how safe Australians are. The head of ASIO said:

As I have said previously, words matter. ASIO has seen direct connections between inflamed language and inflamed community tensions.

If those opposite are concerned about keeping Australians safe then I would encourage them to look at the words they are using in this chamber. I would encourage them to make sure that the 'facts' they put forward are true and have been fact-checked, and to make sure that they are not looking to mislead Australians and stoke more division. We in this place have a responsibility—and the Albanese government recognises that—to make sure we don't do what the Liberal and National parties and Peter Dutton are doing, which is to go to negativity, go to division and try to divide Australians. That's not what this government is doing. We are seeking to keep Australians safe. That is why we have increased the funding for border protection; that is why we are supporting our agencies and delivering those border protection policies; that is why we're committed to Operation Sovereign Borders; and that's why we know that language in this debate really matters.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today the Queensland Supreme Court ruled vaccine mandates for Queensland's emergency services workers to be unlawful. What a victory for the Australian people! It's a victory that reaffirms the need for a full royal commission into Australia's response to COVID. Everyday Australians have lost trust in governments at both state and federal levels, and we've lost trust in health authorities. Recommendation 17 of the report of the Select Committee on COVID-19 stated 'a royal commission be established to examine Australia's response to the COVID-19'. That was two years ago. During his election campaign Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised the Australian people to hold a COVID royal commission. He and Minister Gallagher, who chaired the committee, have both broken their promises. Appearing to have something to hide looks terrible for the government. It is terrible for the government. The public realise that our Prime Minister and his administration cannot be trusted to keep their word.

Today's Queensland Supreme Court ruling is encouraging for everyday Australians who've lost their source of income. Businesses were forced to lay off their staff unless they complied with the draconian policies, and many industries are still suffering the consequences of having to fire unvaccinated staff. Our nurses, teachers, police, firefighters and paramedics, along with other Australians, deserve to know where things went wrong and why the government turned against them. One simple green tick was the difference in being able to attend school, go to work, move around, socialise and exercise—one green tick that took our rights to freedom, life, privacy and movement. The Prime Minister must now realise that, if he takes these things from the people, trust goes with them.

The Albanese government must restore trust and commit to a royal commission now, to commence as soon as the current inquiry into appropriate terms of reference defines those terms. The Queensland Supreme Court said there was an abuse of process and that they did not consider the loss of human rights fundamental to Australian democracy.

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise in support of Senator Liddle's motion. As she has very articulately said, those opposite have no idea of how to genuinely keep our nation safe. They not only don't know how to keep our nation safe but also do not know how to keep our nation secure. We've heard a lot of pious comments and overblown rhetoric from the Greens and pious statements about Operation Sovereign Borders. Our problem on this side of the chamber is not with the amazing men and women who serve in Operation Sovereign Borders. It is about those opposite.

There is probably no-one else in this chamber who has personally witnessed the results and the carnage to human beings of terrorism and serious and organised criminals, which is what people-smugglers are. They commoditise people and offer them false hope. It doesn't start at our waters or on our borders. It starts in source countries. This is where this government has continually been weak. In 2001, I experienced and saw first-hand how John Howard responded. Do you remember? 'We will determine the circumstances in which people come to our nation.' There is a right way that people come to this nation, and there is a way through people smugglers, criminals, who commoditise and quite often cause the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

Last time the Labor Party was in government—who can forget? It was 2007 to 2013—what did they do? They did exactly what they are now in the process of doing—putting the people smugglers back in business right up the supply chain through to source nations. What happened when the last Labor government, the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government, did that? More than 50,000 people paid people smugglers to come to this country. These people endured the most dangerous of all travels, through many countries of safe harbour for many of them, along the way. There were 50,000 people who arrived on more than 800 boats. At least 1,200 people died the most horrific deaths at sea. There is absolutely nothing compassionate about a system that is encouraged and promoted by government policy. You opposite might not have seen what a body looks like floating in the water after a few days, particularly a baby's, but I have, and the men and women of the Australian Border Force who have to deal with the consequences of your policy are forever scarred. Under those opposite, over 8,000 children were in detention because they lost control of the borders. There's nothing compassionate about that. Those opposite opened 17 onshore detention centres for the 8,000 children, many unaccompanied, and for the adults, and two offshore processing centres were opened by those opposite. There is nothing compassionate about that, and many people still in this country are still battling the consequences of being allowed in illegally by those opposite.

As I said, I was part of a very successful coalition government that closed 19 detention centres, saving over $1 billion a year. We removed all children held in detention on Manus and Nauru that were put there by Labor. We ended Labor's regional processing agreement with PNG and signed a memorandum of understanding for the regional processing system in Nauru. We also repealed the disastrous medevac legislation. We successfully resettled or returned more than 1,700 people, including 1,000 under the US resettlement agreement and 450 to New Zealand.

In conclusion, what are we now seeing? It's almost unbelievable to me that those opposite did not learn from the disastrous policies of the previous Labor government. People died. People drowned. People were exploited. People were commodified on false hope and a promise. Those opposite, the boats are starting to return because you've put people smugglers back in business. Shame on you all, because people will die.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for the discussion has expired. We will now proceed to the consideration of documents.