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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Minister Watt. In late March your government tried to rush through the Trumpian and anti-refugee Migration Amendment (Removal and Other Measures) Bill 2024. It was still warm from the photocopier when your government was pushing to have it urgently voted through. Three months on, and this stinker of a bill has been roundly rejected, but it remains festering away on the Notice Paper. Why did you mislead the public by saying it needed to be passed in less than two days with no parliamentary oversight?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course, I reject the proposition that's being put forward by Senator Shoebridge. I remind Senator Shoebridge that not only did the government introduce this bill but the Senate committee that inquired into the bill recommended that the parliament pass this bill. We continue to call on the opposition to commit to supporting the legislation. I'm reminded that, on 28 March this year, the shadow home affairs minister, Senator Paterson, said, 'We will bring our members and senators back whenever required to pass this legislation.' Funnily enough, the opposition have not been prepared to debate the bill, including on many days when it has been listed. Even on 7 May, Senator Paterson said:

… we do recognise there's a genuine public policy problem here, which is that some people who are found not to be refugees refused to cooperate with their own deportation and then can languish in Australia for many years after they should. That's a genuine problem.

Unfortunately, Senator Shoebridge, as you would be aware, it does require a majority of senators to vote for any bill. We understand the Greens will never support this bill. But the opposition, despite their many claims, including those two from Senator Paterson, have made it clear that they are unwilling to pass this bill as well, even on the many days when it has been listed for debate.

So we do continue to call on the opposition to actually do what it says that it's about, which is strengthening our immigration laws. We remain of the view that for those to whom Australia does not owe protection—of course, there's a different situation for those who have been found to be needing asylum in Australia, but for those found not to be affected, we do think that it is the Australian people's right to deport those people, and we think that those laws are required.

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

Senator Shoebridge, first supplementary?

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

Minister, with 103 public submissions from organisations and hundreds of personal submissions to the inquiry on this bill, only one—and that was from Home Affairs—supported it. Diaspora communities and human rights groups have called this bill 'racist', 'in breach of international law', 'a threat to social cohesion', 'cruel', 'ineffective' and 'unworkable'. Why did your government so fundamentally betray and ignore multicultural communities in Australia by pushing this bill in the first place?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've already outlined here, in Senate estimates and in previous question times the policy basis for this legislation. But I also reject the attempt by the Greens of late to try to characterise themselves as the guardians of the rights of multicultural communities in Australia. Any reasonable observer only need look at not only the history of this government but the history of every federal Labor government to see that the only improvements that have ever been made for the interests of multicultural communities in Australia have been under Labor's governments, including under the Albanese Labor government, whether they be, in every possible way, about immigration itself, about rights for asylum seekers, about support for those who are in Australia or about support for social cohesion—something, unfortunately, that the Greens have yet to learn.

We know the Greens aren't interested in social cohesion. They're actually about inflaming division within the community, particularly multicultural communities. Labor stands by its record of supporting multicultural communities.

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

Senator Shoebridge, second supplementary?

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

Minister, with no-one supporting the bill outside of your government and with your government being too embarrassed to bring it forward, why won't you show some decency and just withdraw it from the Notice Paper and get back a tiny, tiny bit of your reputation with multicultural Australia?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Shoebridge, I am well aware that the Greens, in the last little while, have tried to set themselves up as the guardians of multicultural Australia, having previously shown no interest in those issues whatsoever in the entire lifetime of their party. As I say, what this government is about is genuine support for multicultural communities, not actually dividing Australian communities—in particular, multicultural communities—in the way the Greens have been doing of late.

This is an important time in Australia's history. We know that there are many international conflicts where there is great division within our Australian community, and what all responsible politicians in this chamber should be doing is actually working to bring communities together rather than dividing them in the way the Greens try to do, in the way Mr Dutton and the coalition try to do and in the way One Nation try to do. We are going to do better for multicultural communities than that. We're going to try to bring people together and we're going to continue supporting multicultural communities for the benefit of all Australians and our whole country.