Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I seek to continue my remarks on this bill. Let's understand here that this bill will make changes to how migration agents are registered, specifically to how lawyers are registered as migration agents. The main purpose is to implement the recommendation of the 2014 review of the MARA which recommended the removal of lawyers from the Migration Agents Registration Authority scheme.

This bill amends the Migration Act 1958 to remove the requirement for lawyers who hold practising certificates from registering as migration agents when providing immigration advice to their clients. This will be achieved by removing them from the regulatory scheme that governs migration agents. Lawyers will not go unchecked, however. Those who choose to provide migration advice will still be entirely regulated comprehensively by their own state and territory legal professional bodies when providing said advice. I hope when this bill becomes law, it will allow more lawyers to perform pro bono migration work for some people who need legal representation more than most in our society, including asylum seekers. Quality, fair and efficient legal representation is one of the pillars of our justice system and it should be treated with equal regard when it comes to migration law.

There have also been some minor and technical changes to this revised bill since its first iteration. This includes updating the academic and vocational requirements for applicants to be registered with the MARA; to complete the graduate diploma and Capstone assessment.

No fewer than six ministers or assistant ministers have had carriage of this legislation, including Senator Reynolds in her former role as the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs. However, the delay in abolishing the dual regulation of immigration lawyers rests squarely at the feet of the Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton. As much as the Minister for Home Affairs avoids discussing the migration aspects of his responsibilities, he is the senior minister when it comes to the Department of Home Affairs. While there may be an acting immigration minister at present, Minister Tudge, Minister Dutton is ultimately responsible for the department, its actions and legislation.

It should come as no surprise that there were eight pieces of migration legislation the Minister for Home Affairs failed to pass in the last parliament. They sat on the Notice Paper for an accumulative 3,749 days. The current government has been in power for the past seven years and they are responsible for the administration of, as well as any amendments to, Australia's migration law. Their failures go to the heart of migration law in this country and how the failures of the current government impact the lives of real people. Even the supposed plans the government so enthusiastically spruiked, such as their plan to encourage regional migration, are in disarray—and they were in disarray before the COVID-19 pandemic. The government heralded the Designated Area Migration Agreements, otherwise known as DAMAs, as a solution for Australia's regional migration woes but, as of 31 December last year, prior to the pandemic, only two visas in the entire country had been granted under the government's new agreements—two visas, across six agreements.

We also have a government and a minister willing to ignore the symptoms that are presenting themselves when it comes to the abysmal health of Australia's migration system. Since I became the shadow minister for home affairs, I've sought to challenge the current minister's track record. And, while talking points may be a strength of Mr Dutton, his ability to oversee the Department of Home Affairs and his inability to arrest the emerging problems show how this department is plagued with his incompetence.

The health of Australia's migration system is dire. As of 31 March, there were over 281,000 people on bridging visas in Australia, the majority of whom would be waiting for the Department of Home Affairs to process their substantive visa applications. This has more than doubled since Labor left office in 2013. The processing time for 90 per cent of partner visas is currently at an astonishing 28 months. That's 2½ years Australian citizens are waiting to progress in their lives with their partners, their husbands and their wives. There are more than 180,000 people in that position—over 90,000 Australians and 90,000 of their prospective partners in a state of migration limbo. There are over 62,000 visa over stayers in Australia, and I doubt Mr Dutton knows where all of these non-citizens are.

All of these migration matters are only complicated further by the caseload of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. As of 31 May there were close to 64,000 cases before the migration and refugee tribunal of the AAT. Case dates are currently being listed for 2022. The ever growing backlog is not going to improve with ignorance or incompetence. These symptoms affect real people. They affect Australians. They affect the fabric of our society.

Minister Dutton is a minister with no plan for his department or the major issues facing Australia. You used to be able to trust this government to manage Australia's borders but, sadly, that is not the case anymore. Sadly, that is not the case anymore. Let's not forget Operation Sovereign Borders has bipartisan support, but as the airplane people blowout shows you cannot trust this government with our borders anymore.

Let's not forget Minister Dutton is the minister who lost control of the borders. We witnessed the explosion of airplane arrivals in Australia claiming asylum—people being trafficked to Australia on tourist visas in record numbers then made to apply for asylum. This minister, Peter Dutton, and the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, failed to notice when the people smugglers changed their business model from boats to planes. You simply can't trust this government anymore when it comes to borders. I notice the silence now emanating from the other side.

Given the fact that this bill has been an idea for six years you wonder when the minister will take some action to disrupt the people smuggling operations trafficking migrants through our airports in record numbers—