Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was quite appalled and shocked to find out that 340,000 student visas are being issued—that's the average for the last five years—and only 40,000 of them are going home. So there are 300,000 people coming in on student visas. One lovely young lady came in on a student visa, and I said, 'How'd you get in?' and she said: 'You just get a student visa. Anyone can get that at any time at all. It's easy, and you can bring your whole family in.'

Only 40,000 of the 340,000 leave Australia, so there are 300,000 coming in there and then another 400,000 coming in as migrants. That's 700,000 people coming here to stay—not to go home—each year. Well, you don't have to be Albert Einstein to figure out, within 15 years, we will be a minority in our own country—we Australians. If you're happy with that—I'm telling you I'm not.

Some of those people that are coming in—and I make no apologies for stating this—are coming from the Middle East and from North Africa. I say that because it is not a religion thing. We have a tremendous interface with Indonesia, and you would not find a nicer or better people in the world—or more tolerant. The current ambassador, in fact, is a Christian from Indonesia. They're lovely people. So it is a geographic thing. I'm sorry because there might be some very good people that we're saying 'don't come in' to on those sorts of generalisations, but you'll never make a perfect law. That is for certain.

Probably worse still, nearly 75 per cent of them are going to Sydney and Melbourne. There are no jobs and there's no accommodation, so why the hell are you bringing them into this country for? You've sent all the industry overseas. Let me be very specific. Bonds athletics—over 5,000 jobs went out of Sydney and Brisbane in one hit with that one company. The jobs are gone. They're sitting there in little ethnic enclaves—a lot of them hating Australians and having no intention of ever becoming Australians.

An honourable member: You're a disgrace, mate.

I want to know who that interjection came from. I want to find out who's interjecting, because your name's going to go public. I know the people of Australia have had an absolute—and I'll use a crude expression—gutful of this. We're not running around scared anymore of being called racist—

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