Extract from the CURRENT HOUSE HANSARD
Database
Date: 3 September 1997 (11:52)
Page: 7640
MIGRATION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 4) 1997
Second Reading
Ms HANSON (Oxley) (11.55 a.m.) The government's immigration policy released prior to the last election contained a promise to review the efficiency of immigration decision making. The policy also stated that access to courts for the review of tribunal decisions should be restricted in all but the most exceptional circumstances. In the case of illegal immigration, the government has been not only too lenient but also all too willing to squander taxpayers' money and far too slow to deport illegal immigrants.
There is no obligation by law to provide both an administrative review and a judicial review of applications, so why are you doing it? Why are illegal immigrants and criminals getting legal aid to delay their deportation when thousands of Australians are denied this taxpayer funded privilege?
Approximately 60 per cent of administrative cases before the Federal Court concern immigration matters. In the 1995 96 budget, litigation cost the immigration department $7.4 million. This figure did not include legal aid, court costs or the excessive costs of housing and feeding illegal immigrants during lengthy and unnecessary legal processes. This is expenditure you cannot reasonably justify and it is a bill the Australian people do not want. It is an affront to the Australian people that so much time and money is spent expelling from our shores people who, in most cases, are little more than opportunistic invaders taking advantage of our reputation as a soft touch.
The Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Philip Ruddock, hit the nail on the head when he said in March that too many people are using court action to delay departure. This is an urgent matter requiring not just words but action. The Australian people have had enough.
As at 25 March this year, there were over 600 cases of immigration related matters before the Federal Court, the Full Court and the High Court. Many of these matters will be withdrawn before the hearing, and only about 10 per cent of cases that go before the court are successful. I repeat: we cannot afford the luxury of providing illegal immigrants those who sneak across our northern borders with unlimited legal aid and assistance when our own people go without.
In a recent case involving illegal immigrants arriving by boat, our government provided legal aid to these criminals to resist deportation through the Federal Court, the Full Bench of the Federal Court and the High Court without success at any stage. What an unwarranted, inexcusable and disgraceful waste of the hard earned money of decent Australians, who expect the government to be more responsible with their taxes.
We have seen people delay their departure while seeking work rights and access to Medicare. What sort of lunacy is this when our unemployment is so high and hospitals are stretched to the limit? Perhaps you will excuse your actions by claiming some relationship with humanitarianism. But this nonsense you pursue is nothing but an international invitation to take the Australian people for a ride.
As at February this year, over 300 people in our prisons came within deportation provisions. What are you waiting for? How long do we have to feed these foreign criminals for, when so many of our own people are hungry and 40,000 young Australians live on the streets? The answer is to tighten up the system immediately, stop all the rorting, stop the waste of our hard earned taxes and help restore public confidence in government decisions.
We should be negotiating treaties with other countries to have these criminals deported so they can serve their sentences in their home country, instead of in the luxury of Australian prisons, where it costs $40,000 to $65,000 per prisoner per year. You and the governments before you have been extremely successful at signing deals that export Australian jobs. Let us see if you can get it together to export other countries' criminals to their place of origin.
The government needs, firstly, to act immediately to stop foreign criminals from entering Australia in the first place and, secondly, to provide a quick and a cheap means of deporting foreign criminals should they manage to waltz through the gap in your security arrangements. These criminals should not get legal representation unless they pay for it. They should not be treated like well meaning tourists who have lost their way. They must be treated like the criminals they are.
It is incumbent on you to ensure that anyone entering Australia is a decent, law abiding person who will in some way benefit those who are already here. If they are not in some way going to benefit Australia and Australians, then we do not want them. Australians are sick of being the world's soft touch. Australians are sick of imported problems be they crime, disease or aspects of cultural difference that will never be able to accept the Australian way of life.
It is not for us to change, but for them to assimilate. We do not want Australia to become like the places so many people want to leave. So listen to the people and take heed. Fix these problems now or the people will take your positions and give them to those who truly represent Australia.
On many occasions I have been called a racist. The fact is that I am a patriotic Australian who believes in Australia and the Australian people. I want to see our unemployment queues dwindle down to what they should be and give Australians the jobs first, instead of allowing other people onto Australia's shores. It is just senseless and lunatic.
People should have a knowledge of how to speak English. They must know how to assimilate. They must respect our laws, our flag and what Australia stands for. We must take heed of which people we are going to allow onto our shores. We do not allow in people who have diseases and we do not allow in people who have criminal records. We must have people who have something to offer Australia. We do not bring in people with health problems who are going to put such a strain on our hospital system when our own Australians cannot access our hospitals because they are overflowing.
We have a country that so many people want to come and live in. Yet we seem to be bending over backwards to change our ways, our values and what we believe in to accommodate these people. The member for Kalgoorlie (Mr Campbell) was right in what he said. Go and ask some of these other countries what their immigration policies are and what their beliefs are. No one seems to point the finger at them and call them racist. We respect their views, their cultures and the way they want to run their countries. Yet, because I and many other Australians believe in the same rights for our own country, we are called racist.
Patriotism is something that we are losing in this country. It is not being taught in our schools to our children. We must be proud Australians and we must all be Australians together. Immigrants come to Australia for a better way of life. Why else would they leave their own country? That is why we must all be Australians together.
The Minister for Trade (Mr Tim Fischer) accused me and my views of affecting trade, yet he made a statement in this House last week saying that was trade up by over $100 billion. I call on the government to please address the immigration issues of this country. People who do not and should not have a rightful place in this country should be sent back immediately, at no cost to the Australian taxpayer. If these people can afford to pay their own way back, then they should be paying for it.
People are going through the legal system to come to Australia. They should be the ones who are considered first and foremost for being allowed to come to Australia, not those who enter our shores illegally. I believe with this bill the government is actually tightening up a lot of areas. It is not the end, but it is a start and it is pleasing to see.