Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It is no coincidence that high-level English language tests that are designed to set people up to fail were a hallmark of the White Australia policy. This legislation and this government now want to lecture people about violence against women, despite the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Mr Dutton, trying to prevent a pregnant woman suffering serious health problems from being let out of detention in Nauru and coming to a hospital in Australia. This government, which impugns the independence of our legal system, including the AAT, now wants to lecture others about the rule of law. This government is trying to bend Australia to its will, to force Australia to give in to our fears, to put up the shutters and to build the fences. But I will tell you now that the government will not succeed, and it is the Australian people who will stop them from succeeding, because whether or not this government manages to change the laws to make it harder to become a citizen in this country, they will not change the fundamental character of our country, because the people will not let them. (Time expired)