O'Toole, Cathy, MP

Ms O'TOOLE (Herbert) (10:11): I am very pleased to have the opportunity to rise in this place to speak against the Migration Legislation Amendment (Regional Processing Cohort) Bill 2016. The name of the bill itself suggests that we have missed the point that we are talking about people. I give thanks that my father's father had the good sense to come to Australia by boat as a 10-pound Pom when it was safe to do so, and I stated this in my first speech. I am very proud to stand with my Labor colleagues to oppose this bill. I have received numerous emails and countless phone calls from constituents in my electorate. Of all of those hundreds of calls, emails and letters, not one asked me to support this harmful bill. I would like to read two of the emails that I received. One reads: The ALP must block the proposed bill to ban every person seeking asylum, who the government has imprisoned on Manus Island or Nauru, from ever coming to Australia. The current government has demonstrated that it could "solve the boats problem" by policing our borders and has succeeded in this aim. Most Australians seem satisfied with this outcome; so there is no need to inflict further "punishment" on those few remaining refugees on Manus and Nauru. Moreover blocking this bill would in some small way demonstrate to the world (and ourselves) that Australia is not totally devoid of humanity and that at some time (in perhaps a far different and distant future), when refugee flows no longer threaten national cohesion, these asylum seekers might be welcomed as visitors or migrants. Another email states: I am shocked that the Government is proposing this unnecessary and extreme legislation to further punish people who came to Australia seeking asylum. It is a basic human right to live in safety and freedom, which we here in Australia enjoy. We can and should be extending this opportunity to all people who seek asylum and are found to be refugees. I and so many other Australians are wanting Labor to stand up for decency, and to stop the cruel policies which consign people to despair. Please make this a turning point for Labor, and help us as a nation to find our way back to decency. The people on Nauru and Manus Island deserve our compassion, and we as a nation need to turn away from the policies which are bringing us international condemnation. There is a better way. Together we can and we must find it. Let me say from the outset that I do not support, I have never supported, and nor will I ever support the exploitation of vulnerable citizens in our troubled world. I do not support systems that give unscrupulous people the opportunity to profit from the misery and devastation of people whose homelands have been destroyed. But there is a huge gap between enforcing legislation that ensures that our borders are safe and that people smugglers cannot operate, and the cruel treatment of those people caught in the middle—people who have had to seek refuge as they are victims of war. We are talking about people, and I ask: when did Australia think it was okay to demonise human beings, as this current bill does? This bill seeks to amend the Migration Act 1958 and the Migration Regulations 1994 to make any application for a visa an invalid application where the applicant is part of the regional processing cohort. Punishing and demonising innocent men, women and children is not the Australian way. This bill is not about permanent settlement. It prevents a person who may have come by boat and who went on to become a citizen of another country, such as the US, Canada or New Zealand, from visiting Australia for work, tourism or maybe to visit family members in 10, 20 or 40 years time. This is simply ludicrous. This whole time I have thought that this government held such extreme Right views against asylum seekers, but with this legislation it is very clear that they are not just scared of boat people; it appears they are actually scared of the boats themselves. The government beat their chest and say, 'We have stopped the boats.' Well, one must question that. With this proposed bill, have they really? If they had, the current legislation and processes in place would be working. This proposed bill clearly pokes a hole in the government's argument that they have and are stopping the boats. Otherwise, why would they be presenting such a ludicrous bill? This bill is an overreach by a Prime Minister desperate to please One Nation and the extremists in his party. Labor is at one with the government when it comes to protecting our borders and shutting down the people-smuggling trade. No individual who seeks to come here illegally by boat will be resettled in Australia, and genuine refugees should be resettled according to a third-country resettlement arrangement. The question is: what is the government doing about that? The government has had three years to ensure durable and credible third- country resettlement options for refugees living in Australian-funded offshore detention centres in Manus Island and Nauru. But it has failed to announce any arrangements and is desperate to distract from that very fact. Just like with everything else, the government has not been able to demonstrate how the proposed legislation would advance these objectives. Absolutely, we need to get refugees off Manus Island and Nauru, and Labor is willing to work with the government to achieve that objective. No country had asked Australia to adopt this legislation to facilitate a regional resettlement agreement, and the government has provided no credible evidence that there are any agreements for resettlement, pending this bill. Asylum seekers have been held in indefinite detention for too long, because the government has failed to secure viable third-country resettlement arrangements. This is cruel and punishing behaviour. Australians expect this government to resettle these people as a matter of urgency. That should be the government's priority, not playing petty politics and imposing lifetime bans. There are also a number of issues that the government has failed to address in its statements about the bill, including how the new arrangement will interact with our current arrangements with New Zealand. New Zealand citizens are eligible to apply for a special category visa, subclass 444, which entitles them to visit, study, work and stay in Australia. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is quoted as saying, 'We have got no intention of having separate classes of New Zealand citizens.' It has been reported that Prime Minister Key has ruled out an agreement if refugees granted New Zealand citizenship would be unable to travel to Australia. The Australian government has a robust compliance program in place to prevent, catch and remove people who overstay visas. There has been no suggestion that this program is not equipped to manage future risks associated with issuing short-term visas to members of this cohort. The UNHCR's regional representative in Canberra, Thomas Albrecht, has raised concerns about the proposal, saying Australia is a signatory to the refugee convention, and part 2 of article 31 states: 2. The Contracting States shall not apply to the movements of such refugees restrictions other than those which are necessary and such restrictions shall only be applied until their status in the country is regularized or they obtain admission into another country. Ben Saul, Challis Chair of International Law at the University of Sydney, has raised concerns about the bill being in breach of Australia's international law obligations. He argues that it breaches article 31 of the refugee convention, as well as Australia's family reunion obligations under articles 17 and 23 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. There are a few other things that the government has not considered in proposing this bill. While ministerial discretion could apply, examples of how this bill would prevent former refugees from visiting Australia could include doctors visiting Australia to perform surgery or for a medical conference, politicians who may wish to undertake a political exchange or study tour visiting Australia or Australia's sister cities, or elite athletes who want to compete in up-and-coming sporting events such as the Commonwealth Games. It could affect Australian Olympic bids in the future, as there is now a recognised refugee Olympic team. The bill could also prevent refugees from visiting their families in Australia, the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru or other tourism holiday spots on a tourist visa. It could prevent business owners or employees from visiting Australia to discuss the expansion of companies and businesses into the Australian market. I also point out the case of Dr Al Muderis, who is an outstanding specialist in Australia. I personally heard the doctor speak when he came to Townsville to talk about his experience as a refugee. This man has given enormous commitment to this country. He has put Australia at the leading edge internationally when it comes to surgery and assisting war veterans with prostheses to address the fact that they have lost limbs in war. Dr Muderis talked about the day he went to work in Iraq, into the operating theatre, where 150 people were brought to him. The person in charge of those so-called war criminals ordered the head surgeon to cut off their right ears. The head surgeon actually said that he had taken an oath to do no harm and refused to perform the surgery. So what happened to this young doctor and his colleagues is they were taken out into the car park with the head surgeon and he was shot dead because he refused to undertake the orders that he was prescribed. The other medical staff were asked, 'Does anybody else want to oppose this order?' Of course they did not and they went back into the theatre. Dr Muderis talked about the fact that he could not in all conscience go and break his Hippocratic oath to do no harm, could not do this surgery, so that began his journey from Iraq. He fled from Iraq in 1999, two years after qualifying from the University of Baghdad. When he was ordered to amputate the ears of the soldiers who had deserted from Saddam's insane regime, when his hospital supervisor was murdered in cold blood before his eyes, he then fled to Jordan before making his way to Java via Abu Dhabi and Malaysia. In Java he boarded a people-smuggling boat crammed with 150 passengers bound for Christmas Island. Before he made the arrangements to get on that boat, he said he was told that it was quite a luxurious boat with 50 people. He spent the harrowing journey treating his fellow asylum seekers, who included several pregnant women, for severe seasickness. He said: There was no room even to sit, many people were just standing on deck. Dr Muderis said that there was nothing special about refugees, who represent a slice of society, including the 'good, the bad and the ugly'. But he said that no-one deserved to be known as a number, as he was for 10 months in Curtin Detention Centre, where he was simply known as 'No. 982'. He said: People should never be a number, I don’t keep numbers, people have names. After being told by then immigration minister Philip Ruddock that his qualifications would never be recognised in Australia, the young refugee medico emerged into Australian society and worked from Mildura to Canberra to prove his worth. He obtained a job as surgical registrar at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne before obtaining placements at Bendigo, Wollongong and Canberra Hospitals. He said: It was during my time at Austin Hospital that I studied to fulfil my dream to become an orthopaedic robotics limb surgeon; a most fascinating and rewarding profession working with cutting-edge technology to assist those who have lost legs in combat, or through other health and accident reasons. Despite his ordeal and the hurdles he was forced to overcome, Dr Al Muderis said that he felt very lucky to be an Australian. He hopes to be able to provide his services to Australian soldiers who have lost limbs in war. His first military patient flew for 25 hours, over other clinics in Sweden, Germany and France that conduct the procedure, to be treated by an Iraqi refugee. Dr Muderis brings great credibility to this nation in his work as an orthopaedic robotic surgeon.