House debates Questions without Notice
Home Affairs
Sam Lim Tangney, Australian Labor Party
2:59 pm
My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. What progress has the Albanese Labor government made in the Home Affairs portfolio in these first six months?
Clare O'Neil Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs
3:00 pm
I thank the member for his question. The final act of the previous government was their decision on 21 May to sabotage protocols that protect Operation Sovereign Borders for their own political gain. The parliament will remember that the former prime minister directed the former home affairs minister—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Hon. Members:
Honourable members interjecting—
Milton Dick Speaker
The Minister for Home Affairs will take a brief pause. Nineteen seconds in, I will hear from the Manager for Opposition Business.
Paul Fletcher Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy
The standing orders are very clear: imputations of improper motives to a member are highly disorderly. Within seconds, that's what this minister has done. She's got a bad record of pointing the finger at us, but she needs to comply—
Milton Dick Speaker
The member will resume his seat. I'm going to ask the minister to begin her answer again and to refer to the question.
Clare O'Neil Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs
They don't like it much we talk about this subject, do they? And for very good reason. I'm referring to facts that were found in a report that was provided to me in July 2022—
which demonstrated that the former prime minister directed the former home affairs minister—who is getting quite vocal over there—to order a senior military officer to issue a public statement about a live military-led operation in which young Australians in uniform were at risk. She didn't do it herself; she asked a public servant to do it for her. The report that was released to about this incident—
Milton Dick Speaker
The minister will pause. I'll ask the Manager of Opposition Business to state the point of order, otherwise I will sit him down pretty quickly.
Paul Fletcher Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy
This point of order is on relevance. The question was about the progress the Albanese Labor government has made. It wasn't—
Milton Dick Speaker
Resume your seat.
Honourable members interjecting—
The members on my right will cease interjecting so I can hear from the Leader of the House.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
To the point of order, as the minister has been making clear, in those first six months there was a report that she received, which she is now describing.
Karen Andrews McPherson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs
Which she sat on for weeks!
Milton Dick Speaker
The member for McPherson will cease interjecting before the minister resumes. The question was about progress in the past six months. The minister is being entirely relevant, and I do not want her interrupted for the reminder of her time.
Clare O'Neil Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs
Sometimes the facts hurt. This report found that the minister and her office had interfered inappropriately with the work of the Public Service, and demonstrated that the former government put their political interests above the national interest. This is an approach that I see right across the Home Affairs portfolio.
The House will remember that one of the first actions of the former member for Cook on becoming prime minister was to abolish the cybersecurity ministry. Well, haven't their chickens come home to roost on that one! Australia has just experienced its two worst ever cyberattacks within three weeks of one another. The Australian government in the last six months—
Honourable members interjecting—
Milton Dick Speaker
The members on my left will cease interjecting.
The member for Moncrieff is warned. The minister will continue and be heard in silence.
Clare O'Neil Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs
There is no question that in the last six months the new Australian government—
Clare O'Neil Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs
There is no question that in the last six months the new Australian government has done more to protect the cybersecurity of Australians than the previous government did in the whole preceding six years. This has included creating—
Milton Dick Speaker
Order! The member for Wannon is warned. The minister will be heard in silence.
Clare O'Neil Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs
It's not a history I'd be proud of, either. This has included creating an incident response function which did not exist before we came to office. It has involved fixing privacy laws and the rollout of a new model of policing which will see the Australian government hack the hackers. There is a lot more work to be done and there will be more cyberattacks, but we are punching back for the first time in this critical area of policy.
On immigration, when we arrived in office there were one million unprocessed visas sitting in the system with no plan to process them in the middle of the biggest labour shortage we have had in 70 years. I pay credit to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs for the work he has done. I could go on: failed citizenship laws that left a legal and constitutional mess, an immigration policy framework totally failing to meet the nation's needs, an immigration system being exploited by criminals. For every rock I look under there is a legal and policy mess created by the former government, and we are cleaning it up.
Karen Andrews McPherson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs
Yes, she's a winner; she's a winner!
Milton Dick Speaker
The member for McPherson, if she continues to interject, will be warned.