Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Community Safety, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the member for McPherson's motion to acknowledge the structural change and overall achievements of the Home Affairs portfolio. The member for McPherson did a fantastic job as home affairs minister, and she has always put the interests of the Australian community first. It's very interesting to hear the member for Moreton—

Sorry?

Well, there you go, for the opposition members. But it is very interesting, because you said you've taken advice from police on whether the home affairs department should be disbanded. As a former police officer in Victoria counterterrorism policing, I actually took the guidance of former and acting, committed members of those who are here to protect the Australian community—those in the counterterrorism units, who strongly supported the move in 2017 to have a home affairs department all under one umbrella. In that role—and this is where it's so important, and I was proud to serve under the previous government as assistant minister—the department worked so well.

I say to the member for Bruce that in 2019 that took into account assisting to ban bump stocks, which were sadly used in the Las Vegas mass killing over there. I'm sure the member for Bruce and other government members would support that ban. In April 2022 the Criminal Code amendments increased the maximum penalty for trafficking of firearms from 10 to 20 years and increased the mandatory minimum sentence to five years imprisonment. One of the policies we put in place that I am proudest of—and I again thank Crime Stoppers—was to launch a permanent national firearms amnesty. Nearly 12,000 firearms have been handed in. I hope the government continues to fund it—I'm sure the member for Bruce will take this forward—because it is ongoing and supports Crime Stoppers.

When it comes to community safety, one of my great concerns was high-risk youth—those who fall out of the schooling system and those who get involved in gangs. There are so many fantastic organisations around Australia who haven't had the support, and we put $120 million in place to support that program. I'm hoping and nearly praying that the Albanese government will have this in the budget, because it's so important. In July 2018 the Illicit Tobacco Taskforce was set up and it has done an amazing job, with 214,000 illicit tobacco detections and seizures of more than 827 tonnes.

I chaired the Joint Standing Committee on Migration's inquiry into the efficacy of current regulation of Australian migration agents. We put in place a tiered system so you wouldn't get someone with little experience, for example, going before the AAT and also having a supervised practice. The next cab off the rank was an independent commissioner looking after the entire migration visa system. One of my concerns with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority, OMARA, was that it didn't have the laws in place to do the job and that is very important. We also put in place a code of conduct in 2022. We put measures in place to combat modern slavery, including the Modern Slavery Act and the National Action Plan to Combat Modern Slavery, with $10 million to support organisations.

When it comes to the home affairs department, it is really sad what the new government has done. There was no reason to separate the department. It was doing such a magnificent job in the work it was doing. The No. 1 priority of any government is to protect its citizens. I know the member for Bruce now is on the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and I recommend to him and the other government members that it is so important to give law enforcement the tools they need to protect Australians.

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