Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

With respect to that advice that he refers to, he refers to one member of that cohort. Let me say this with respect to the one member I presume he is referring to: there is one member of this cohort where ASIO have advised that they meet the threshold for a temporary exclusion order to be put in place. ASIO are the correct experts to be able to make that assessment, and this government will not take risks with national security. So, when ASIO make that assessment and it is presented to me, the decision immediately is to make a temporary exclusion order, which is exactly what we have done.

I would remind the Leader of the National Party of the words of a former leader of the National Party, who said this:

All the shock jocks and so many people who call themselves patriots will say they shouldn't be allowed back into Australia, but they're Australian citizens, so you can't leave them stateless. They are entitled to come back here.

They're not my words but the words of the member for Riverina. We have a situation where there are people who have been part of an appalling decision to act in support of one of the worst organisations the world has known.

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