Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

As I rise to speak on the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test and Other Provisions) Bill 2011, I reflect on the fact that this bill has been introduced by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship following the riots that occurred at Christmas Island and Villawood detention centres. We all know that there are around 6,800 people in the detention network in Australia—up from just four people who had arrived illegally by boat when we left office. The reason for that is that so many boats have come. I do not think we can pass much further today without noting that yet another boat has arrived, as advised by the Minister for Home Affairs in a press release today—a boat containing 52 passengers and four crew. That is the fourth boat to have arrived since the government announced its people swap deal with Malaysia. Over 150 people have been found coming to Australia since that deal was announced. The government is quickly drawing down on what I call its asylum deal credit card with Malaysia, and it has not even completed that deal. The five-for-one people swap with Malaysia was a proposal conceived in denial and negotiated in desperation. The situation now is completely unclear. Confusion reigns, and it is clear that people smugglers are not buying the Prime Minister's bluff about a deal that is yet to be concluded and about which question marks are raised almost every day, not just from a human rights perspective but particularly from a human rights perspective.

The bill before us today deals with changes to the character test. This bill makes it clear that, from the date of commencement, a person will fail the character test under section 501 of the Migration Act if they have been convicted of an offence committed in immigration detention, during an escape from immigration detention, during a period where a person has escaped from immigration detention or if a person has been convicted of the offence of escaping from immigration detention, whether the conviction or offence occurred before, on or after that commencement. Where a person does not pass the character test because of any of the provisions in section 501, which go well beyond criminal conduct, the minister or his delegate has the power to refuse, grant or cancel a visa on these new character grounds. The amendments would apply only to persons who have been convicted of an offence by a court under the specific criminal conduct provisions that are being introduced in this bill. They would not apply to a person who is charged with an offence or offences but is not convicted. There must be at least one conviction for the amendments to sections 500A and 501 to apply. The coalition will provide some support to this bill, but we will seek to make an important amendment, which I will return to later in my remarks.

This measure was announced after the Villawood riots, but prior to that there were some serious riots on Christmas Island. On that occasion, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship made some remarks, to which I will draw the attention of the House. I refer firstly to a statement made on 18 March. The minister gave a press conference with, I believe, the Australian Federal Police, at which he said:

Character can have regard to a number of factors: whether somebody has been sentenced for a criminal activity to prison for more than 12 months, and also general conduct and whether somebody’s general conduct implies that they are not of good character … character considerations will be taken into account for those on Christmas Island who have organised and perpetrated this sort of activity. It will be taken into account by our decision makers and ultimately by me.

This was the strong boast from the minister in the wake of the Christmas Island riots, where the Australian Federal Police had to retake the facility by force. They had lost control of the facility, it was in the hands of the detainees, and a pitched battle was waged in that detention centre on Christmas Island.

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