Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I want to follow up on that excellent contribution from Senator Shoebridge by reminding the Senate that we are dealing with human beings here. As Senator Shoebridge said, the decisions that are encapsulated in this legislation are some of the most consequential decisions imaginable for people who are in an incredibly vulnerable position, who have already been displaced from their homes and who, in many cases, have fled to Australia seeking safety—as is their right under the refugee convention—and had their claims for asylum either accepted or placed under consideration by the government.

I want to remind people in this country that, if you look at the history of persecution of people seeking asylum in this country, almost inevitably the most draconian measures have been introduced by the Labor Party, not the Liberal Party. Why have they done that? Because they are running scared. They have made a decision based on political calculus. The collateral damage of that decision is the lives of some of the most vulnerable people who are currently in this country—refugees and people who are seeking asylum. They are being persecuted by the Labor Party because Labor's political calculus says they can't stand up against the attack dogs in the coalition.

Well, I've got news for the Labor Party. This is now so deeply embedded in your political DNA that you are a bigger problem for the human rights and the natural justice rights of people seeking asylum in this country then the Liberal Party is. You have been for decades. Hang your heads in shame. You should hang your heads in collective shame because you have persecuted people. You have destroyed countless lives. I well recall visiting Manus Island when the decision was made to cut off the food, the electricity, the medical supports and even the drinking water from people in the Lombrum detention centre. I well recall that decision being made, and I well recall the enthusiastic support of the Labor Party for that decision. I well recall the days when mandatory immigration detention wasn't a thing in Australia, and I well recall who introduced it. The Labor Party introduced it.

There is a historic current of racism that underpins the way the Australian Labor Party operates. We are seeing that today—because we know that overwhelmingly, perhaps even exclusively, the people that are going to be impacted by this legislation do not have white skins. They are people of colour. We all know that that is the case.

We have all watched the shameful history of the Australian Labor Party. They are prepared to trample all over the rule of law, they are prepared to trample all over natural justice and they are prepared to trample all over procedural fairness. I say to the Labor Party: we see through you. We see you, and we see through you. We understand that you are historically worse for people who are seeking asylum in this country than is the coalition. Almost all of the most egregious breaches of people's legal and human rights and almost all of the most draconian laws that have been introduced, that discriminate disgracefully against people who are seeking asylum in this country, have been introduced by Labor governments. We see you, we know what you're like and we will fight you every step of the way. We will continue to fight for justice, for procedural fairness and for the legal rights of people seeking asylum.