Selection of Bills Committee

Mehreen Faruqi

I move the amendment standing in Senator Nick McKim's name:

At the end of the motion, add:

"and, in respect of:

(a) the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2025 Measures No. 1) Bill 2025, the bill be referred immediately to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 3 November 2025"; and

(b) the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Ban Gambling Ads) Bill 2024, the bill be referred immediately to the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 24 November 2025".

Here we are again, with Labor and the Liberals teaming up one more time to shut down debate, to shut down scrutiny on a cooked bill that punches down on migrants and on refugees. What a surprise!

I do want to associate myself with the comments that Senator Shoebridge has made all along on this horrific, monstrous bill. You just don't get tired in this race with each other on who is going to punish, who is going to crack down on and who is going to strip natural justice from migrants and refugees. No-one wins in this race except racism, unfairness and injustice.

Labor senators stand here and speak about what a great multicultural nation this is. They criticise the anti-immigration rallies. They still don't condemn them, but they do criticise them. They talk about welcoming different races. They talk about humanity and respect. This is what Senator Wong spoke about yesterday. But, in the same breath, you did the exact opposite. You ran through laws that will deport these very same people that you say are welcome here without giving any opportunity for natural justice. You silenced the sector by locking them out of the three-hour inquiry. You didn't accept public submissions, but the Greens have tabled those submissions. You did a secret deal—a $400 million bribe to Nauru—to deport people. It's $2.5 billion now. You are such hypocrites. You are hypocrites of the highest order, talking about multiculturalism on the one hand and then ramming through a racist bill on the other. You praise migrants for what they bring to this country, you eat our food and you enjoy our festivals, but then you stitch up dirty deals with the coalition to demonise us. That is what this bill does—it demonises migrants and refugees. You criticise the likes of One Nation for scapegoating migrants, blaming them for the housing crisis, when you have done exactly the same. You blamed international students for the housing crisis. That's how far right you have gone. I don't know who you have become. Who is the Labor Party now? You talk about a fair go, but then you legislate anti-fairness.

I'll tell you what the Labor Party has become. You have become a party with the most monstrous policies on migrants and people who seek asylum. Your cooked policies would make Donald Trump proud. Do you know what? You have actually won, so congratulations to you. You have actually won this race to the bottom with the coalition on who can be more anti migrant and more anti refugee. You have won it—congratulations! You have sacrificed basic humanity, human dignity, human decency and fairness to push through your racist bill. Shame on you. What a disgrace.

You want to hide your nastiness by completely stopping scrutiny on this legislation. This is the harsh truth which you need to listen to. You have never seen us—people of colour and migrants of colour—as equals. Our belonging to this country, our Australianness, has always been conditional. This bill is just another example of how conditional our belonging is. Shame on you. You are all a disgrace.

David Pocock

I just want to put on the record the many concerns I've heard from people in the ACT about the way that the government is rushing through a bill which Senator Shoebridge and Senator Cash methodically proved is not actually urgent. Many Canberrans have very deep concerns about the way that this is happening in our parliament, with a total lack of scrutiny and what seems to be going against the Labor values that we heard about before the last two elections.

On the broader issue of a deal with Nauru to send people who we have been told are too much of a risk to our community to be released, that we simply cannot release these people into our community for fear of what may happen to Australians, we are happy to pay Nauru to take them. They're a small island nation. We are going to pay them $2½ billion to $7-plus billion over the next 30 years to do that. It doesn't bode well, given the majority they have in the House, if this is the way that the government are going to treat the parliament.

Lidia Thorpe

It is dangerous and disgusting that, in the same week that Neo-Nazis paraded the streets calling for a white Australia, the Labor government is rushing through harsh anti-immigration deportation laws that will impact—surprise, surprise!—black and brown people the hardest. The Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2025 Measures No. 1) Bill 2025 paves the way for the mass deportation of migrants and refugees with no legal safeguards and no opportunity for protection. Australia's immigration regime is so brutal that even Trump pointed to Australia's system and said:

That is a good idea. We should do that too. You are worse than I am.

Shame! He took inspiration from this colony, from the Labor government, just like South Africa got its inspiration for apartheid from the Aboriginals Protection Act in Queensland.

It is racist laws like these that form the fabric of this colony, and this has been the case since the invasion of our sacred lands. This creates a hotbed for white supremacy. White supremacy doesn't happen in a vacuum. It has been allowed to flourish as racist and divisive laws and attitudes to non-white people are laid into the very foundations of this colony, as we see today. Some might assimilate, and I don't know how they sleep at night.

If the Nazis were in parliament today—or maybe they are—they would applaud—

Sue Lines

Senator Thorpe, withdraw the comment you made.

Lidia Thorpe

'If the Nazis were in parliament today'?

Sue Lines

There's no need to repeat it. I've asked you to withdraw it.

Lidia Thorpe

What is wrong with this?

Sue Lines

Senator Thorpe, you are not in a debate with me. I've asked you to withdraw, and I expect you to withdraw.

Lidia Thorpe

Very hard, this violent colony, but I withdraw.

Sue Lines

I've told you before that you don't put statements with a withdrawal. You simply withdraw the statement.

Lidia Thorpe

I withdraw the statement, master.

Sue Lines

No. You can withdraw that as well.

Lidia Thorpe

I withdraw.

Sue Lines

Thank you.

Lidia Thorpe

Well, the Nazis would be very happy with the parliament today. They would applaud these laws and shake Albanese's hand, in fact. I wonder who is providing the advice to the Albanese government if it's not the Nazis that we saw on the weekend. Congratulations, Labor. You've managed to impress the white supremacists and the cookers in this chamber who support them and speak at their rallies on—

Sue Lines

Senator Thorpe, once again, withdraw that comment.

Lidia Thorpe

Should I have my speeches checked by you, President?

Sue Lines

You're not in a debate with me. I've asked you to withdraw; I expect you to withdraw. May I remind everyone in this chamber that we have all signed up to a respectful parliament, and that includes what you say in this place.

Lidia Thorpe

You can talk about racists and murderers, but I can't talk about—

Sue Lines

Senator Thorpe, if you don't withdraw, you won't have the call.

Senator Faruqi, I'm simply dealing with Senator Thorpe at the moment. I will happily come to you once Senator Thorpe has withdrawn.

Lidia Thorpe

I withdraw.

Anne Ruston

That's not a withdrawal!

Sue Lines

Order, Senator Ruston.

An honourable senator: Leave it alone.

Lidia Thorpe

I can't talk about what is the real truth of the country and about the white supremacy that continues to roll out in my workplace. It is not a safe workplace for black and brown people in the Senate or in this building. But let's be clear: this is the Labor Party and the Liberal Party openly continuing a new era of the White Australia policy. Congratulations! Sounds about white.

Bills like these normalise racism and white supremacy in the highest places of power in the colony. The dream of a white Australia is the foundation of this colonial construct: terra nullius, to pretend the land was empty; and genocide, to make sure it would be. Senator Wong publicly condemned last weekend's marches and, in the next breath, rushed through one of the cruellest mass-deportation bills in the world. What the politicians say publicly, on their socials and in the media is very different to what they do in this chamber. Back-door deals—fake, power-hungry, racist politicians.

I want to make clear that no colonial government in this country has the right to say who and who isn't illegal on stolen land. First Peoples do not use immigrants and refugees as political footballs. We make sure that people are welcome and follow the proper protocol of our land. To the people out there who are scared about what this bill means for them and their families: you are welcome here and you are not alone. We know what racism looks like in this country and we see it every day. Stay safe. Look after each other. Together we will continue to resist white supremacy in this country, in this colony and in this parliament.

Jacqui Lambie

I ask that the question be put separately for paragraphs (a) and (b) of the Greens amendment, as moved by Senator McKim.

Sue Lines

Thank you, Senator Lambie.

Sarah Hanson-Young

I rise to speak in favour of the Greens amendment, as circulated by Senator McKim. I think it is appalling that, today, what we see is a stitch-up between the Labor Party—the government—and the coalition to shut down an inquiry into gambling advertising in Australia. Both the Labor Party and the coalition have gotten together today to stop the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Ban Gambling Ads) Bill 2024 going to an inquiry because they do not want this issue debated.

I don't know what has happened, between the Peta Murphy report recommendations being handed down and today, that has made the Liberal Party and the Labor Party so scared of the gambling lobby, so scared of the gambling companies and so scared to do anything that was recommended by the Peta Murphy report, which said the single most important thing you could do is stop the advertising of this harmful product. Gambling addiction kills. It ruins lives. It ruins families. It bankrupts businesses. Gambling advertising pushes a dangerous and deadly product, and it is pushing it down the throats of our children, our young people and, in particular, young men across the country.

We have heard expert after expert talk about how insidious and dangerous the advertising of gambling is. We've heard from parents who are crying out for regulation and help because gambling companies are getting straight into the hands of their young boys and their teenagers. We've heard directly from children themselves and from young addicted people about how hard it is to get away from being induced and bombarded by gambling advertising. We've heard the sorrows and the pain from families who have lost sons, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers because of the death that gambling addiction brings.

If you can't bring yourselves to stare down the gambling industry and to stop them from pushing this toxic, deadly product into the hands and faces of our children, you do not have the courage required to lead. It is time to stop the excuses, to do something to stop these gambling companies ruining our children's lives, ruining our families and bankrupting our community. Australians lose more money in gambling per capita than anywhere else in the world. We are addicted to the gambling industry. It takes political courage to do something about it.

The Prime Minister has a supermajority in the House. We've heard the opposition say that they care about this issue, that they are worried about the pain this is bringing to families. Well, stop dragging your feet. Today's blocking of this bill going to an inquiry just shows the lack of courage that both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party have. Stop being scared. Stand up for the Australian people and for the safety of our children.

Long debate text truncated.