Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

In the dying hours of the last parliament, the Albanese government joined forces with Peter Dutton to ram through some of the most extreme antimigrant, antirefugee laws this country has ever seen—laws that pave the way for Trump-style travel bans; laws that gave the government power to deport refugees who had already survived years in offshore detention and who are now living lawfully in our communities; and laws that stripped people in migration detention of their most basic right, the right to a phone and communication. They were cruel, unnecessary and inhumane. This week, the Albanese government has doubled down. It has sneakily tabled new legislation that allows people to be forcibly removed to Nauru without ever seeing the application the government is making. People will lose the right to explain why their removal would be unsafe or to argue their case against being deported. This is a breath-taking assault on the rule of law. Once again Labor is scrambling to legislate its way out of accountability to the courts, and shame on them.

At its core, this bill is about stripping people of natural justice. For centuries natural justice has been the bedrock of our legal system—the principle that every person has the right to be heard before lifechanging decisions are made about them. This isn't fairness. This isn't justice. This is cruelty dressed up as policy. That the Prime Minister and his government are seeking to dismantle such basic rights shows just how toxic and how far-right Labor's immigration policy has become. Shame on you, Prime Minister, and shame on every member who just voted against sending this bill to inquiry, denying parliament the chance to scrutinise such barbaric legislation.

While Labor and the coalition conspire to drag this country towards ever more extreme immigration policies, the Greens will not be silent. We will keep fighting for fairness, justice and the rights of refugees and people seeking asylum.