Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) | Hansard source

I acknowledge the member for Goldstein's longstanding advocacy around the integrity of government. It's a passion that's very much shared by those of us on this side of the chamber. One of the first actions of our government was to legislate for a National Anti-Corruption Commission, and you were a key advocate for that. I want to acknowledge that.

The Prime Minister has quite comprehensively covered the response of the government, but I'll fill in a few details so that the parliament is aware. There are very concerning allegations on the public record with regard to the management of offshore processing. The government is deeply concerned about those. As soon as these matters were raised, I asked the home affairs department to look thoroughly at the current regional processing arrangements to ensure that they are legal and appropriate, and I have received that assurance from my department. In terms of the historic allegations, it is absolutely clear that these warrant further investigation. These are serious allegations, and there is serious money involved, and no-one is going to get to the bottom of this like Dennis Richardson is.

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