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

As I've stated, they will strengthen Australia's removal framework and help ensure that dangerous noncitizens, particularly members of the so-called NZYQ cohort, which we know includes rapists, paedophiles, murderers and a contract killer, cannot abuse our courts and our legal system to prolong their stay in our country.

What the bill before us will do is tighten the law so that members of this cohort cannot continue to run endless legal delaying tactics. That is why the opposition is voting in favour of the bill. But I need to be very clear: supporting this bill does not mean that we give Mr Albanese and Mr Tony Burke as the minister a blank cheque. Far from it. Last night, we had a short hearing into this bill and, I have to say, every time I asked a question and got another answer it became even more disturbing in relation to what this bill is not doing. It was made incredibly clear to us, by the officials at the table, that this is a bill that is all about the legal issue of procedural fairness.

I said we support what the bill is doing. However, the coalition has an amendment, because what we want to ensure is community safety. There is no amendment put on the table by the government. The government, in this bill, does not deal with the issue of community safety. What we established last night is that there are still 354 members roaming free in the Australian community who are members of the so-called NZYQ cohort. As I said, let us not forget: that cohort includes rapists, paedophiles, murderers and a contract killer. What came out of that hearing last night is, quite frankly, nothing short of extraordinary. That is what the government said, or what Mr Burke, in his press release, said.

We have now been told and we have worked out next to nothing, other than the announcement of so-called deal with Nauru. There is no detail. That is very clear from the answers I got to the questions I asked last night. There is no transparency—do not worry about that. There is definitely no transparency. But what is worse is that there are just vague assurances, and now we know why.

Last night, I pursued a line of questioning in relation to how much it is costing the Australian taxpayer; Mr Burke has said a particular figure, so let's now work through that figure. The figure that Mr Burke put on the table was that the deal with Nauru, on behalf of the Australian taxpayer, was going to cost them $408 million. What they didn't tell the Australian taxpayer is this: officials last night revealed that this particular deal could cost Australian taxpayers more than $2.5 billion over 30 years. That's right—not $408 million but $2.5 billion.

Quite frankly, that was probably a conservative estimate because, under the agreement, Australia will pay straight up to Nauru $20 million the very first moment a detainee sets foot on the island. On top of that, we will put $388 million into a trust account, with every cent of interest earned on that trust account to flow directly to Nauru. Senator Pocock asked some very good questions last night in relation to what the interest on that money could eventually be worth. It could actually be worth billions of dollars.

But here's the kicker. Despite the big announcement by the government, Nauru gets the final veto. They get to pick and choose who they take. 'There are 354 of them. We don't like 350 of them. They're staying on the street in Australia.' Worse than that, they could actually take zero. There is no obligation to take anyone from the NZYQ cohort at all. There was big fanfare from Mr Burke, but, when you look at the details, Nauru determines who is taken, not the Australian government. Nauru can say no. They could say yes to one, they could say yes to two, or they could get to 10 out of the 354 and say, 'Seriously, we've had enough.'

Officials confirmed that to access the $2.5 billion—get this!—Nauru does have to take a minimum number of individuals. They get $2.5 billion of Australian taxpayers' money—big deal—and 354 is the cohort. When I asked the officials, 'What is the minimum number of the cohort that needs to be taken for Nauru to trigger, effectively, the $70 million a year that is going to be paid to them for the 30 years?' the poor officials said—and this is no reflection on the officials; they merely provide the evidence, and this is a reflection on Mr Burke—that the number has not even been agreed.

This is where we are—a big headline by Labor, a big announcement, which the press loved. Then, when we look into the details of it, we are committing taxpayers to billions of dollars over three decades without a firm guarantee from Nauru as to how many of this cohort they will take. This is, quite frankly, an extraordinary state of affairs, and it raises a very, very simple question: what exactly is the Albanese government doing? Australians deserve to know where their money is being spent. They deserve to know if billions of dollars are being transferred offshore with no certainty that they will actually deliver what the government claims. As Andrew Hastie, the member for Canning and shadow minister for home affairs, said in his speech in the other place, 'This deal looks less like a serious plan for removals and more like a very expensive exercise in political damage control.' If you look at the press release, the media got excited and reported on the deal—$408 million. That was just the tip of the iceberg.

There is no transparency. There is no accountability. There are actually no details at the moment, just vagueness. The reality is that even with this legislation—and the legislation will go through; let me make that very clear: the coalition will support this legislation—even with the Nauru deal, 354 members of the NZYQ cohort remain where they currently are. And let's not forget who these people are. They are murderers, they are rapists and they are paedophiles, and there is a contract killer. I think most Australians would think, after I've said that, that it's pretty obvious where they are: they're behind bars. But no. This is the Albanese government. Good grief! Behind bars is the obvious answer. But think un-obvious. Think, 'Where wouldn't you put these people?' That is what this government has done, compromising community safety. These people are on the streets, mixing in our communities. The bill does nothing to remove one of them—not one. What it does do is make it easier, on paper, to deport them, with no guarantee that they will actually leave.

The government has known since last November that this cohort would be released into the community. Yet, instead of coming forward with a strong, credible plan to keep Australians safe from the mess it created by putting these people into the Australian community, it has literally lurched from one stopgap measure to the next. I think this is the fifth piece of legislation that we are now dealing with and that we are told is urgent so we've got to get it through the Australian Senate, because the government made a mistake first up. At every stage, the coalition has had to drag the government kicking and screaming to act. We forced them to bring forward emergency legislation last year. They weren't going to. We pushed for stronger visa conditions. We demanded tougher monitoring and reporting. And today—and let me clear: as I said, we're supporting this bill—we are calling for more. We want our community to be safe.

That is why we will be moving sensible amendments to this legislation—amendments that even the officials admitted will make a—