Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

As I said, that is why the coalition will today be moving sensible amendments to this legislation—amendments that will actually make a difference to the safety of the Australian community. After all, when you have people who are not meant to be here—murderers, rapists, paedophiles and a contract killer—then yes, you should as a government put the Australian people first, not the people who should not be here. So we will be urging the government to adopt provisions for preventive detention to ensure that the worst of this cohort can be taken away from the Australian community and detained if they pose an ongoing risk. We will be urging the government to close loopholes in mandatory detention—loopholes that are being exploited right now, as I give this speech here in the Australian Senate.

The people who are affected ultimately are mum-and-dad Australia, who wake up every morning and just want to go about their business safely. But the government have made it clear that they don't want to hear it. This is the fact, though: unless the government accepts strong measures, many of these individuals will remain in Australia for years and years to come. So we are saying that the coalition supports this bill, because the issue of procedural fairness needs to be dealt with, but that is not enough. So, while we'll not stand in the way of the passage of this bill, we will continue to hold the Albanese government to account. We will continue to demand, as we should on behalf of the Australian taxpayer, transparency. We will continue to demand, on behalf of the Australian taxpayer, in relation to the Nauru deal, that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely.

But, above all, this is our first priority, and it's always been the first priority of a coalition government: national security. The sole responsibility when it comes to the fundamental responsibilities of a Commonwealth government is the security of our great nation and our people. If you cannot guarantee the security of our great nation and our people, then, quite frankly, you don't deserve to be in government.

As I said, when we go to the guillotine at 1 pm—these bills will go to a guillotine—we won't have an opportunity to properly interrogate the amendments, but there will be amendments that are on the table that even the departmental officials last night acknowledged will make a difference to community safety. The government is not proceeding with them in this bill and that is a great shame, but we know why.

The government are not serious about the safety of everyday Australians. They are more interested in protecting the rights of people in the NZYQ cohort, who should not be in this country. As I said, when you look at the 354 people, the cohort does include—it is a fact; I'm not making it up—the rapists, the paedophiles, the murderers and a contract killer. I would've thought, given these people are in the Australian community, the government would be saying to the coalition, 'We'll accept any amendment that you put forward.' In fact, I'm happy if the government make it their own. I'm not here to say the coalition has to have a win here; I want the Australian people to have the win. I want mum-and-dad Australia to know that at least one party of government, the coalition, will always put them first—will always put the safety and security of this great country first. And, as I said, we celebrated Australian National Flag Day yesterday—124 years of flying that fantastic flag.

Australians know, quite frankly, instinctively, what this government seems to have forgotten: they're not negotiable; their safety is not negotiable; community safety is not negotiable. It is, as I said, the first duty of any government. When we were in government, it was always our priority to ensure that Australians, on a daily basis, could get up and know that they had a government that put them first, that believed in national security. As I said—

Honourable senators interjecting—

The opposition's role is to hold the government to account, and I think it is a very sad day. The bill will pass, but it does nothing to improve the safety of Australians.