Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to follow through on some of the remarks that have just been made. It deeply concerns me that we are being asked to take this government on trust when it comes to such profound questions. If we had a record we could rely upon on the issue of trust it might be a different question, but this is a government that has made secrecy and the ability to hide the truth a hallmark of the way these programs have been administered. So I would ask the minister a pretty simple question, because I am particularly concerned by what the explanatory memorandum actually says when we talk about trust. I ask the minister to explain how ministerial discretion is going to be used on the issue of cancellation of visas? Page 6 of the explanatory memorandum says:

The visa cancellation ground is discretionary and requires consideration to be given to a range of factors such as the person's complicity in the 'payment for visas' arrangement, strength of ties to Australia and contribution to the Australian community, in considering whether or not to cancel the visa.

We have a situation here where a person may well be subject to slavery, trafficking, gross exploitation, demands for sexual services in return for employment, or a whole range of offences which we know exist and are quite widely reported. But we are asked to take the government on trust when it comes to consideration of these matters. So I ask the minister: can you explain what those words mean—in regard to the explanatory memorandum—and will this include, in discretion—