Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Citizenship Repudiation) Bill 2023. I think, for a little bit of context on this bill and the reason it's in this place at this time, we need to look back over the events of the last few weeks and, in particular, the Labor government's disastrous handling of the NZYQ case. That case saw them in complete confusion, in denial, absolutely frozen and not knowing what to do, like a rabbit in the spotlight, for basically a week. We now know that it was actually longer than that. We now know that they had a very clear indication that they should have been ready for a negative decision in that case for months. But no—for whatever reason, whether ideology, inexperience or the fact that the adults are no longer in charge, the Labor government proved that it just wasn't ready for what came when the High Court handed down that decision.

Unfortunately, it's very revealing. One of the clear determinations that the Labor Party have lost control of the agenda in this case is the rhetoric they're now using, and particularly the rhetoric they're using against the Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, a man whose track record and strength in this particular space is very well known to the Australian—