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

In addressing the points the minister has just raised, I will read the statement that he issued today. He said that, under this proposed amendment:

… every person with even the most minor conviction would fail the character test, which could result in visa rejection.

It is interesting, because every person arriving on an ETA right now, under that class of visa, when they present themselves at the airport, having filled out the bit about a criminal conviction, can be rejected right there and then. My point about the amendment is that it changes nothing in terms of the normal operation of the department in issuing visas. Whether they are tourist visas, skilled visas, 457 visas, family reunion visas or humanitarian visas, the amendment I have put forward makes no change to the smooth working of any of those operations. But I can tell you what has caused a change to the smooth running of this department: the decision of this government in August 2008 to abolish the border protection regime put forward and run successfully under the Howard government. Since that regime was abolished by this government we have gone into absolute chaos. The cost associated with managing asylum seekers has gone from $100 million a year to more than $1 billion a year. If the minister is concerned about the impacts on the smooth running of the department of government policy changes, or indeed opposition amendments, I would caution him and ask him to look at the record of this government, because that is what has gridlocked this department, gridlocked business visa applications, gridlocked family reunion applications, gridlocked every form of visa application consideration across the full spectrum of what is offered in this country. My office, and members' offices on our side, are constantly having stories brought to them of frustrations in dealing with visa applications—including humanitarian applications, I should stress. Matters have been brought to me by members of the Salvation Army, specifically relating to humanitarian applications that have been delayed and not considered and rejected on the simple grounds that the government's program had been overwhelmed by those who had come by boat. That was the advice they got from this department. So the minister may want to come to the dispatch box and he may want to say, as he has said in the statements he has issued, that he wants to ensure consistency in our laws—because that is why this amendment has been put forward by the coalition. That is the issue he should be addressing. If the minister does not think there is a problem, if he does not think there is an issue in our community of those on visas breaking the law, if he thinks that every person who comes here on a visa never gets themselves into trouble, never engages in disorderly conduct, never has one drink too many, never engages in assault or never commits any sort of offence, then he should pick up the phone not just to the President of Nauru to fix his other problem but to the New South Wales Commissioner of Police. He should pick up the phone to the New South Wales Police Force, who deal with these incidents constantly. They tell me that they want to see a consistent approach applied to noncitizens. If there were the added sanction—faced by those who choose to act up while they are guests of our country—that a conviction of less than 12 months meant a clear failure of the character test, with the minister then able to deny or cancel their visa, it would be a welcome addition to the measures that are available to those who enforce our laws not just in New South Wales but all around the country.

The minister can choose to stay with inconsistency, as proposed in his bill, or he can choose the path of consistency. The path of consistency will not have the implications suggested by the minister. He has not been able to demonstrate that. He has come into the House today with no backup for his claim that this would cause havoc. The only thing that has caused havoc in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship is the way that this government has dealt with asylum seeker management and refugee policy.

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