Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his very important question. It is the case that this government has cancelled a record number of visas under section 501 of the Migration Act—that is, people who were visiting our country and committed an offence while they were here. We take a very tough decision and we boot them out. We cancel their visas and we kick them out. In Labor's last year in government, they cancelled 84 visas. In the last 12 months, we have cancelled 1,013 visas. Included in that is well over 100 outlaw motorcycle gang members. When I look at the categories, I think the motorcycle gang members are included in most of these categories, and we are up in all of these categories: armed robbery, 139 cancellations; assault; drug offences; fraud; deception; grievous bodily harm; reckless injury; kidnapping; manslaughter; murder; other violent offences; theft; robbery; use threat with intent. All of these categories are up dramatically because, I suspect, many of the bikies fall into those categories.

Not every Australian is supportive of the work that we are doing in cancelling these visas. In May, it is reported, we had paid CFMEU organiser Mick Powell and union delegate Stu-e Corkran attend a Rebels protest against the visa cancellation of a Rebels gang member. He may well be an extortionist or a robber, he may well turn up on building sites and muscle subcontractors and all sorts of people in a shocking way, but he is not too smart, our Stu-e, because he turned up in his Rebels outfit—

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