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senate vote 2018-12-06#12
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2023-05-26 11:17:24
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Title
Business — Consideration of Legislation- Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2018 - Second Reading - Put the question
Description
<p class="speaker">Cory Bernardi</p><p>I seek leave to move that the consideration of this bill be not limited by time.</p><p>Leave not granted.</p><p>Pursuant to contingent notice, I move:</p><p class="italic">That so much of standing order 142 be suspended as would prevent further consideration of the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2018 without limitation of time.</p><p>As I said in my speech in the second reading stage, this is a bill that has been hijacked to do something that it was never intended to do. It was a housekeeping bill to clean up an oversight. It has now been turned into a weapon of political destruction. The price of that political destruction is the wellbeing of men, women and children on Nauru. For all the confected outrage about how concerned these people are who want to dismantle Australia's border protection system, the fact is that they are limiting debate in this place on a matter of life and death. They've left it to the last day in the parliament to guillotine a committee stage, a Senate inquiry. They truncated debate through the second reading debate—less than an hour. It's the death knell of this parliament and they're playing with people's lives. It is an appalling indictment of the processes and the sheer bastardry that is levelled by the use of numbers.</p><p>We know that when Labor and the Greens team up the consequences for Australia's border protection are catastrophic. We know that the price of that red-green alliance is people dying at sea. We know there are 50,000 people, legacy cases, that are testament to their failures. And now we're meant to believe that, somehow, this is not worthy of debate. The Australian people know that perhaps the greatest success of this government has been the continuation of the border protection policies. It has saved hundreds—nay, thousands—of lives. There is cavalier dismissal of those deaths at sea by people like Senator Hanson-Young, who say 'accidents happen; tragedies happen', as people are drowning at sea as a consequence of the policies that they want to reopen again. This is a shameful indictment on what is to come should a Shorten-Greens government be elected in Australia.</p><p class="italic">Senator Pratt interjecting—</p><p>Even if you disagree with the policy position, the simple fact is that the sanctimonious and pious over on that side of the chamber refuse to allow debate. I note that Senator Pratt is interjecting as loudly as she possibly can, but she's had nothing to say about process. They've been hoisted on their own petard, because they've failed and mucked up the process at every single level, and now they start to complain and whinge because they're not getting what they want.</p><p>I will not have one bit of pious lecturing from those who have supported the hypocritical stance that you opposite are saving people from dying by opening Australia's borders. I'm standing up for Australia. I'm going to stand up for the people of Nauru. I'm going to stand up for the refugees—the genuine refugees—whilst you will stand up for any political act that will help entrench your power. What you're doing is diminishing the role of the Senate. You hijack an innocent bill, which was to clear up a very simple piece of administration, and you hoist your own ideological agenda on it. The price of that, that you're prepared to trade off, is the health and wellbeing of the little pawns in your political game, the people that are on Nauru as, I might add, you turn your backs on impoverished communities in this country. As you say, it's okay for the Indigenous people to live in abject poverty without appropriate medical care and without adequate schooling. You will not uphold the standards that you expect for the people on Nauru. The refugees on Nauru are in better conditions than our own populace are in some respects and still you remain silent. You think this is the most pressing issue for the people of Australia. That's how sadly out of touch you are.</p><p>It is an abuse of process that has taken place in this Senate. Not only are we not able to have a full debate and allow every senator to have their say on a very contentious and important piece of legislation or the amendments, but we're being expected to surrender the complete probity of process in the name of some fixation to score a cheap and petty political win. I will do what I can to deny you the ability to play games with people's lives on Nauru. I will not support you dismantling Australia's border protection system, because it is a great success of this government.</p> <p class="speaker">Mathias Cormann</p><p>The government will be supporting Senator Bernardi's proposed suspension motion. This is because what Labor and other non-government senators are seeking to do here is highly reckless and irresponsible, and Mr Shorten knows it's highly reckless and irresponsible.</p> <p class="speaker">Kim Carr</p><p>Well, why didn't you organise the program properly?</p> <p class="speaker">Scott Ryan</p><p>Senator Carr.</p> <p class="speaker">Mathias Cormann</p><p>Mr Shorten is not doing this because he thinks it's right.</p><p class="italic">Senator Kim Carr interjecting—</p> <p class="speaker">Scott Ryan</p><p>Senator Carr, take a breath.</p> <p class="speaker">Mathias Cormann</p><p>He is doing this because he's putting political tactics and political opportunism—</p> <p class="speaker">Scott Ryan</p><p>Senator Birmingham, on a point of order?</p> <p class="speaker">Simon Birmingham</p><p>Mr President, could you please bring Senator Carr to order? It's clearly—</p> <p class="speaker">Scott Ryan</p><p>I'm doing my best without yelling. Senator Carr, take a breath. Senator Cormann.</p> <p class="speaker">Mathias Cormann</p><p>Thank you very much, Mr President. I'm not concerned about Senator Carr. What this is all about is Bill Shorten demonstrating to the Australian people that he will, at any time, sacrifice Australia's national security on the altar of his political tactics and on his short-term, self-perceived political interests.</p><p>In pursuit of a little tactical victory, Bill Shorten is losing sight of what actually matters. What matters is that we maintain our strong border protection framework here in Australia. When we came into government, we inherited a mess at our borders from the Labor Party. We inherited chaos at our borders. More than a thousand people died at sea because of the mess that the Labor Party made with our border protection policy framework, and what Mr Shorten is signalling to the Australian people today is that he will go back to the failed and discredited policies that Labor pursued in the past. People across Australia cannot trust Mr Shorten with our national security. People across Australia cannot trust Mr Shorten with our community's safety, as they can't trust Mr Shorten with keeping the economy strong, creating more jobs and keeping the budget in surplus over the medium and long term.</p><p>A whole series of amendments to this bill have been circulated. This is a very important bill. There are many pages of amendments. Many of them are quite complex amendments, and I think a number of second reading amendments have been moved by senators asking, for example, for inquiry and report by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to review the amendments that have been circulated so that we can actually make a decision in the full knowledge of the implications of voting for or against those amendments. There's been a second reading amendment moved that we should defer consideration of this bill until the Senate has received advice from the director-general of ASIO and from the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police. Of course the Senate should do this. We should not be dealing with this government bill today until the proper work of the Senate and the proper consideration by the Senate have taken place.</p><p>Of course, Mr Shorten actually knows that this is a reckless move when it comes to our national security, but he's quite happy to sacrifice our border security. He's quite happy to sacrifice our strong border protection arrangements, including the offshore processing arrangements which were put in place as a late fix in the dying days of the last Labor government. The Rudd Labor government came into government in 2007, and we warned them: don't dismantle the Howard government's strong border protection policies—don't touch them. But, of course, they did. And do you know what happened? As we predicted, boatloads of illegal arrivals arrived on our shores and more than a thousand people died. There were 50,000 illegal arrivals on about 800 boats. That was the consequence. Of course, in the lead-up to the 2013 election, Mr Rudd was so embarrassed that he reintroduced offshore processing. He said that nobody on Manus Island would come to Australia under a Labor government. Of course, that is precisely what Labor is now supporting.</p><p>Opposition senators interjecting—</p> <p class="speaker">Scott Ryan</p><p>Senator Seselja on a point of order.</p> <p class="speaker">Zed Seselja</p><p>It's getting very difficult to hear. I would ask you to bring Senator Lines and, in particular, Senator Collins to order while the minister is speaking.</p> <p class="speaker">Scott Ryan</p><p>Quite right: I will ask senators for silence.</p> <p class="speaker">Zed Seselja</p><p>It is very, very difficult to actually hear what the minister is saying.</p> <p class="speaker">Scott Ryan</p><p>Thank you, Senator Seselja. Please resume your seat.</p><p>Opposition senators interjecting—</p><p>If senators don't interject, there won't be points of order about noise.</p> <p class="speaker">Mathias Cormann</p><p>Mr Rudd was so conscious that the Australian people were seriously upset with the mess that Labor had created on our borders, Labor were advertising to or supposedly targeting potential people smugglers and potential illegal immigrants in Australia about their strong offshore processing arrangements. That was in Australia, where there are apparently a lot of potential people smugglers and potential illegal arrivals.</p><p>The truth is that this is the beginning. This is Bill Shorten showing to the Australian people what he would do if he were elected at the next election. This is showing that he doesn't care about keeping Australia's border safe and secure. If given the opportunity, he would go back to the discredited and failed border protection policies of Labor in the past. Our very strong message to the Australian people is: don't risk it. And our very strong urging to the Senate is that this is a very sensible motion that has been moved by Senator Bernardi which deserves support. The Senate shouldn't become captive to Mr Shorten's tactical games that are putting our national security and our border protection arrangements at risk. These sorts of bills should be debated in the proper fashion, as they usually are, and that is what the Bernardi motion is seeking to achieve.</p> <p class="speaker">Penny Wong</p><p>I move:</p><p>That the question be now put.</p> <p class="speaker">Scott Ryan</p><p>The question is that the motion to suspend standing orders be now put.</p> -
- The majority voted in favour of a [motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2018-12-06.111.1) to *put the question*, which means that the [motion under discussion](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/divisions/senate/2018-12-06/13) will be voted on immediately instead of debating it any further. These motions are a type of gagging order.
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