Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Because it was. That's exactly right, Senator Scarr—because it was. Senator Wong said the opposition is being disingenuous in that—she is the Acting Prime Minister because the Prime Minister is not here, despite Mr Dutton's call yesterday for him not to get on a plane but to stay in Australia and deal with the mess that this country is confronted with. If you did believe that the fundamental responsibility of your Commonwealth government is the safety and security of the nation and its people, you would have done that. Mr Dutton has said we are here to work with you. The parliament should not rise until this is dealt with. Mr Albanese, though, had other ideas.

The front page of the West Australian newspaper today really says it all: 'Fight or flight.' That is not me; that is the West Australian newspaper—fight or flight. There is a picture of Mr Albanese getting on the plane, and clearly he has chosen flight. That is not to say that the duties that he had overseas are not important, but the option was certainly given to them that the parliament could sit until the matter was dealt with. Mr Albanese chose a different course of action.

The quick glance that the Leader of the Opposition, Senator James Paterson, Mr Tehan and I had has revealed to us that the legislation is inadequate. We have been drafting amendments this morning. I note that in the other place, interestingly, the Leader of the Opposition was denied the opportunity to move these amendments. I say shame on the government for not allowing the Leader of the Opposition—he has been the Minister for Defence and also for many, many years held the portfolio of Minister for Home Affairs—to do that. I would have thought the government would welcome the constructive contribution from a person who for nine years sat around the cabinet table, who also sat around the table of the National Security Committee of cabinet and, not only that, who clearly understands this portfolio better than both Mr Giles and Ms O'Neill. But no, that input was not welcomed by the government. Instead, they rushed the legislation through the House. Therefore, yes, we will be moving amendments in the Senate later on this evening and we will be discussing those amendments with the government.

But I want to make it very clear, given Senator Wong's comments, that when you do not do us the courtesy of providing us with legislation the night before, even though it was clearly there to go, and when you present to us that legislation only at 7.15 in the morning, saying to us, 'We expect this to be passed later on this morning,' you probably will not be surprised that, when we realise at first glance that the legislation you are bringing before parliament is deficient, the coalition will say to you, 'We will draft amendments to ensure, to the extent that we can, that the legislation, this weak bill is fit for purpose.' I would have thought you'd actually say thank you, because we're helping you clean up a mess.

We want you to get this right because we do take seriously the responsibility of a federal government when it comes to defending Australians and to ensuring their security. We are a former federal government that has a track record that clearly shows we are prepared to take action. We are a federal opposition that, if we had been in government and we had been given the clear indication by the High Court of Australia in June of this year, would have had options available the minute the decision came down. Instead, we have seen from this government every possible excuse that you could think of to throw at the Australian people.

Where do we end up? We have now ended up with someone who has been convicted of raping a 10-year-old boy being out on the streets.

If you'd read the West Australian yesterday, you would have seen that in my home state, despite everything the government said about putting conditions on their visas, of the 32 released detainees, seven of them—made up of convicted rapists, domestic violence offenders and murderers—were dumped at a motel in Thornlie. From all accounts by a journalist who decided to spend the night there himself, there weren't too many of these conditions. This is despite the government standing up and telling the people of Australia that they take the matter seriously and they have their back. I have to wonder: does Mr Albanese actually have the back of Australians? I really do wonder because you can't come up with a solution overnight in relation to convicted child rapists, murderers, contract killers and DV thugs who are not entitled to be in this country. They are not entitled to be here because they are non-citizens. If you can't come up with a solution to put the safety and security of the Australian people first then, quite frankly, you are not fit to govern this country.