Jon Sullivan (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

That was the Australian Crime Commission? It was a different one. Who is in charge of those, Minister? The third element is a right-to-work check from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. In other words, we are not going to issue you a pass to work in a sensitive area in this country unless, of course, you are qualified to be here.

The Attorney-General mentioned in his second reading speech that two years of operation of AusCheck has, in fact, given great confidence that this organisation is able to perform the functions for us. It is eminently sensible that, where these kinds of checks are required, for whatever security purpose for the government, a single agency is tasked with the job of doing that. That means, essentially, that the background checking that I get, for example, to enter a maritime situation is no different to the background check that is given to another person to enter an aviation situation, to work in a sensitive defence installation or for whatever other purpose we may want to do a check. The duplication of effort, were these to be done by different agencies, would just not be enormously sensible.

Having said those few words, I say that I too want to congratulate the Attorney-General on his custodianship of the portfolio in the 15 or 16 months since the government was elected. I have said in private—or publicly, but in smaller gatherings—that I think that this Attorney-General will be recognised well into the future as one who has done an excellent job for the people of Australia. This is a minor piece of legislation by comparison to a number that he has shepherded through the parliament in that time, but it is an important piece of legislation in the minds of all of our constituents. The cliche that people want to go to bed at night knowing that they are safe is very much a consideration that Australians want from this government. We have only to look at the prominence that the issue of national security has in people’s minds at any election time; it is of equal consideration to the economy for people’s votes. I think it is appropriate that these changes be made. These will give comfort to the people who elect us to represent them in this place. This will make sure that those protections that we put in place via other methods will not be undermined by the placement of inappropriate people in sensitive and critical positions. With those few words, I commend this bill to the House.

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