15th Oct 2019, 5:26 PM – Senate Motions - National Security - Control of borders

The majority voted in favour of a motion introduced by Victorian Senator Raff Ciccone (Labor), which means it succeeded. Motions like these don't have any legal force on their own, but are politically influential because they represent the will of the Senate.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) after six years under this Liberal-National Government's watch, from 1 July 2014 to 31 August 2019:

1. 95,943 people have come through Australia's airports and sought asylum, as is their right to do, and

2. in nearly the same period, bridging visas have blown out from 94,000 to almost 230,000 – an increase of over 140%,

(ii) of the protection visa applications decided by the Department of Home Affairs in that period, 62,732 – 84.2% – were rejected,

(iii) those waiting in Australia on a bridging visa as their claims for asylum are assessed are often being exploited and trafficked by labour hire companies and criminal syndicates,

(iv) stakeholders have expressed concern as racketeering around visas and asylum applications have been allowed to flourish,

(v) the Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs, Mr Wood, remarked on the blowout of airplane arrivals and stated 'Organised crime and illegitimate labour hire companies are using this loophole...', and

(vi) the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Dutton, stated that: '...If you cannot control your borders, you cannot govern the country'; and

(b) condemns the Morrison Government and the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Dutton, for losing control of Australia's borders and allowing exploitation, slavery and trafficking to go unchecked, having a devastating impact on workers and their families, and the ability to do basic mathematics and provide accurate data to the Senate on the number of people who have been trafficked to Australia under their watch.