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

I want to thank my friend the member for Wills for this really important question. I have spoken to the parliament this week about the release of the Richardson review. This is a review that was called when really significant integrity questions were raised about the history of offshore processing contracts in the Department of Home Affairs. This landmark review shows for all to see that, under the watch of the Leader of the Opposition, his department paid hundreds of millions of dollars to companies and individuals who are suspected of arms dealing, drug smuggling, undermining international sanctions on Iran, money laundering, bribery and human trafficking.

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

I'm sure there are people in the gallery sitting there thinking, 'How on earth did something like this happen in Australia?'

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

'How on earth, in our great country, could the federal government have sent hundreds of millions of dollars in the direction of companies that would do things like this?' We learned a bit more about how this happened in estimates this week.

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

We learned that the home affairs department actually raised their very real questions with the minister. They sent up to the minister a report which raised concerns about a specific contract, worth half a billion dollars, that was going to manage an offshore processing centre, and it was being awarded to a company that had never been assessed for its ability to deliver that service. In fact, we learned later that this is a company that was headquartered in a beach shack on Kangaroo Island.

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

They got half a billion dollars. These questions were raised with the minister. What would any minister worth their salt do when they received that? They'd ask more questions. But that's not what the Leader of the Opposition did. Instead, he sent back a one-word response: 'Noted'—no follow-up, no questions, no investigation and no integrity.

What it looks very much like from the outcomes of the Richardson review is that, despite all of the questions that have been raised over a period of a decade about the integrity of these contracts and the links to criminal wrongdoing, our supposed tough cop on the beat didn't ask a single thing, ask a single question or launch a single investigation. So, when it finally came—

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

We've heard an awful lot this week from the Leader of the Opposition about his so-called concerns about crime. But, when it came time for the tough cop on the beat to do something to fight wrongdoing, did he do anything about it? Absolutely not. He looked the other way. That's how you end up with a situation where the Australian government collected taxpayers' money from everyone who is up in the public gallery and sent it in the direction of companies that were undertaking criminal activities. What I would say to the parliament is that the Richardson review shows that, if the Leader of the Opposition were half as tough on crime as he pretends to be, we wouldn't have needed a Richardson review, because he would have commissioned it years ago.