Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The biggest threat to housing relief in this country is the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Dutton. For two years, he has tried to block Labor's record investment in housing, and last night we saw the latest disgraceful chapter, with Mr Dutton blocking Labor's international student caps. Our sensible caps would improve the integrity of our education system while relieving pressure on the housing market, but Mr Dutton has made it clear that he'd rather see Australian families on the street than let Labor fix the mess he left us in. He would rather protect shonky training providers than fix a broken system.

The fact is that that bloke acts hard on migration but goes limp when it goes to taking action. Who could forget Mr Dutton, as Minister for Home Affairs, personally intervening in the migration cases of his mates' au pairs not once but three times, or the Sydney Morning Herald expose in 2022 which found he had numerous cosy dinners with a migration agent called Jack Ta? According to law enforcement agencies, Jack Ta ran a migration firm helping Vietnamese drug runners enter Australia on student visas. Over three years, Mr Ta bragged on Facebook about all the cosy meetings he was having with Mr Dutton. In 2019, Mr Ta said he had a 'very cosy dinner' in the dining room of parliament to discuss how the ministry of immigration operated. Mr Dutton has cosy fundraising dinners with shonky migration agents, then comes in here and blocks caps on international students. You can't make this thing up. This man has no shame.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

I'll just wait for calm to descend. Thank you, Senator McKenzie! Order! We are moving to question time now. I expect senators to come to order.