Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

The fact is that how this situation has been dealt with is absolutely disgusting. The bill has been rushed in. Senator Cash said that the opposition got the bill last night. I only got it in my hands about five minutes before I walked into this chamber. We have had no chance to really have a look at this bill.

As I was saying, the public are furious about this. It's been on talkback radio, and the public are incensed. It is about national security. I am ropeable about the fact that these people have been released. As Senator Cash said, the government knew what was going to happen, and they did nothing to prepare. It's typical of this government. As I've said on numerous occasions, it's the worst government to rule this country that I have seen in my seven years in this chamber and another nearly three years in the other place. It's absolutely the worst government. You are unprepared, and you don't know what you are doing. The legislation put through this place is pathetic to say the least. When you put it up, you make so many amendments to it. You don't even know what you are doing, you don't have a plan for anything and you don't have a plan for this at all.

On such an important issue as this, especially as we are hearing from the public, you would think that you would work closely with the opposition to find the right answers to deal with this—for national security and for the future of this nation. But you are so bloody-minded that you're not interested in that. You only handed it to the opposition last night and, even today, you want to block debate on this. You want to have only an hour's debate on this, an hour and a half at the most. You want to shut it down, on such an important issue as this, and you're supposed to be governing this country.

These are not innocent people. That's why the Australian people are up in arms about this. As we've said a number of times, there are crimes that they have committed. One of these men is from Kuala Lumpur. He attacked a pregnant woman and then blew her up. That's the type of person we've allowed on our streets.

They're not Australian citizens. If they're refugees, just ordinary law-abiding refugees, why haven't they been given citizenship? Because they're not of good character. That is the thing: they are not of good character. We don't want them here, but because we can't seem to get it together right—these people should have been deported. But I know for a fact that a lot of countries won't take them back. You thought it was all boat people who were coming out here. We had 50,000 boat people. Of course, the Greens wanted to open the floodgates and allow all these refugees into the country: 'We should allow them in. We should look after them. These people have a right to come here. It's not about protecting our borders and knowing who we allow in the country. Just let these people flood into the country.' But a lot of these people actually come in on planes. They fly into the country and they destroy their identification. And we can't send them back to a lot of the countries they come from because those countries want to know who they are. That's why they destroy their identification—because they don't want to be sent back. They're economic refugees. They come here for a reason. And they know that we are so soft that we can't get rid of them. That's why they've been in detention for a long time.

There was the member of the lower house who said we should bring them from these detention centres into Australia for medevac reasons. They actually swallowed stones. They poured boiling water over their kids. They did these hideous crimes to themselves and to their families purely to get into Australia so that they couldn't be deported. These are people we've allowed into Australia. They're not innocent. They're not innocent people at all.

These people who were released and are now in our community have been housed and put up in hotel accommodation. We can't do that for our own Australians who are sleeping on the streets, living in tents, and yet we're doing it for these people. I'd like to put it to the Greens, especially Senator McKim: Are you going to open up your house to them? How many are you going to invite into your home? How many are you going to look after? How many of the Greens will do that? I think you should stand on principle and I think you should house them. If you think they're so willing to be here and you feel safe with them in your home, open up your home and pay their bills—not the Australian taxpayer, because now they actually have the right to, and we're paying for, their welfare.

I think the public have a right to know who they are and where they're going. You say there are conditions under this legislation. Senator McKim says the conditions we're going to put on them are so restrictive. I'll just read out a few of them:

The holder must report at the time or times; and at a place or in a manner; specified orally or in writing by the Minister from time to time.

I don't think that's unreasonable. This is another:

If the holder is directed orally or in writing, by the Minister to attend, at a specified place, on a specified day and at a specified time, an interview that relates to the holder's visa—

I don't think that's a hard one.

Notify the department of the full name, and date of birth, of each person who ordinarily resides with the holder at the holder's residential address

Is that difficult? I don't think so.

must obtain the Minister's approval before commencing to perform work, or a regular organised activity, involving more than incidental contact with a minor or any other vulnerable person

I think that's feasible.

must notify the Department of the details of any contact with the following:

(a) any individual, group or organisation that is alleged, or is known by the holder, to be engaging in criminal or other illegal activities;

(b) any individual, group or organisation that has previously engaged in, or has expressed an intention to engage in, criminal or other illegal activities.

This is where Senator McKim thinks this is just setting them all up for failure—this is not being responsible and reporting to the Australian government or the department. Here's another one:

must notify Department of the following matters:

(a) the holder receives, within any period of 30 days, an amount or amounts totalling AUD10 000 or more from one or more other persons;

(b) the holder transfers, within any period of 30 days, an amount or amounts totalling AUD10 000 or more to one or more other persons;

(c) the holder's banking arrangements change …

If the holder incurs a debt or debts totalling AUD10 000 or more

That's the financial circumstances. That's not setting them up. There is nothing in this bill that is actually detrimental to them being caught out, so that is an absolutely ridiculous statement from Senator McKim.

We have the High Court's decision about how you can't hold them indefinitely. I put to the opposition that we should possibly look at an amendment to this to put a time frame on it—that you can't hold them any more than, say, 25 or 30 years. If you put a time frame on it and if that were amended and put through, then these people could actually be rounded up again and put into the detention centres. The court's decision has already been made. They have been released. And then, if they end up in detention centres, there is a time frame there—it's not indefinite detention. Maybe if these people knew that then they might come forward with who they are, with identification.

Those are thugs and criminals that I don't want in this country. Once someone said: 'You could be sending them back to their deaths. With all of the crimes committed, if they went back to their own countries, they would give them the death sentence.' You know what? I don't care. They can go back to their own countries. And a lot of Australians will feel exactly the same way. What's going to happen if you've got that type of person in Australia is that a lot of them don't change, and I will grieve any Australian that may lose their life because of these animals that we have released in our community. I will call them that, because that's how I feel they are, especially a man who rapes a 10-year-old boy or a man who murders and then blows up a woman. They are disgusting animals. This is what the Greens want to keep in the country—these types of people.

Like I said, we have over the years had a very well organised and managed refugee program. We do take refugees in this country. I have many refugees from Vietnam and from other countries around the world who come up to me and say they were given such a privilege to come to Australia, who appreciate the opportunity they were given to become Australian citizens. That's wonderful to hear. We do give people these opportunities, especially from countries like Vietnam, with what happened to the people over there, and other countries whose people we've allowed into Australia. But there comes a point when you've got to make sure of who you allow into the country: that they are going to be good citizens, of good character, and that they will be proud to abide by our laws, our culture and our way of life. That's what it means to be a good Australian citizen.

We have now breached our national security, as far as I'm concerned. As I said, the Labor Party is at an absolute loss, with another one of the bills they've put before this parliament. They have no idea at all how to deal with this. I think it's absolutely disgusting that our Prime Minister is out of the country at this time on yet another visit. He was just in the United States, what, a week or two ago? He's on another visit to the United States. He's not in the country, again. He's constantly out of the country. This is one of the most important issues that we are facing now. It's concerning many Australians. I remember the Labor Party and the left-leaning media having the audacity to have a go at Scott Morrison, who was on holidays in Hawaii, because he wasn't here to hold a hose for the bushfires—is that what it was about? We need the Prime Minister here in this country to deal with an important issue with important legislation around criminals being released on our streets. I don't hear anything from the left-leaning media—nothing whatsoever. You're quite happy to have a go at the coalition whenever you can, but you constantly let the Labor Party off time and time again. You do not hold them to the same account as you did with the coalition when they were in government. That's what the issue is about: that the media don't hold the Labor Party to account. Everyone should be held to account in this place, but you let them slide through. You don't hold them to account. It's the same thing with this piece of legislation. I wish that you would get your act together, work with the opposition with regard to this and make sure that we protect our national security and protect the safety of the Australian people. That's what they want. They want assurances from the leaders of this nation that they are being considered and looked after. I will say it again: look after the Australian people first and foremost before allowing the bleeding hearts in this chamber and outside to worry about everyone else.