Senator SANTORO (3:07 PM) —Again we have today a cynical motion trying to shoot somebody who, together with the government—in fact, representing the government—has acted with total propriety in relation to the issues that are being covered by this cynical motion to take note. It is instructive just to remind the Senate why this government and the minister have acted with great propriety. The government established the Palmer inquiry. It acknowledged that there was a prima facie case for procedures to be reviewed. Subsequently the government referred the Vivian Alvarez Solon matter to the Palmer inquiry. The government, also entirely of its own volition and without any particular pressure from senators opposite, ordered the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs to review all cases of people being released from detention because they were found to be, or later became, lawful. As a consequence, 200 cases were referred to the Palmer inquiry and are now being examined by the Ombudsman.

As the minister clearly explained in the Senate yesterday, they are not necessarily cases of wrongful detention. They cover a broad range of circumstances, including people detained for very short periods while their identity was being established. They will also include people who are detained and are subsequently released because they have been granted a visa. It does not mean that their detention was wrongful or indeed unlawful. It is not a technical point and there is no presumption involved. Labor, during question time today in this place and in the other place and through this motion, are deliberately misleading the public and the parliament on this point.

The ‘released not unlawful’ scenario is the natural and indeed inevitable consequence of detention provisions in the Migration Act. I have not heard the Labor Party seek to move a motion or to amend any law to change that. In the way that the act is supposed to operate, people may be detained on the basis of reasonable suspicion of being unlawful noncitizens and, after further inquiry, released if they are found to have lawful status or further detained if their unlawful status is confirmed. Furthermore, it is not a case of presuming that a person is an unlawful noncitizen. What is required under section 189 of the act is a reasonable suspicion, which means a suspicion grounded in objective facts. The suspicion that a person is an unlawful noncitizen must be justifiable upon an objective examination of relevant material. But because, by its very nature, a suspicion involves a degree of uncertainty, it is inevitable—and those opposite simply cannot deny it—that in some cases of detention under section 189 the suspicion, albeit reasonably held at the time, will turn out to be incorrect upon further inquiry. That simply does not make the detention unlawful.

Senator O’Brien interjecting—

Senator SANTORO —Senator O’Brien understands that, but again cynical politics are at play here. We have the playing out of cynical political point-scoring that seeks to besmirch, belittle and bring down a minister. That is not going to work because right is on the side of the minister. The opposition parties know that but they constantly try to imply otherwise.

The referral of all these matters to the Palmer inquiry and subsequently to the Ombudsman for independent examination is the action of a government who accept their responsibilities. We did not need to be prompted by senators opposite. We did not need to be encouraged to do the right thing, which is what we did when we established the Palmer inquiry and referred matters to it. We did not need a lecture in morality. We did not need any moral compass that the other side pretends to represent. We established the inquiry and referred serious matters to it because that was the correct thing to do.

I have participated in many taking-note debates on the same issue in this place because, day after day, opposition senators come in here and cynically seek to denigrate and besmirch the reputation of a minister and that of the government. I am very proud to rise in the defence of a minister and a government who have done the right thing—a government that recognise that when problems arise the source of the problem needs to be identified and fixes made. That is precisely what the government are doing in this case. Trying to bring down officers of the department, as opposition senators constantly try to do, trying to bring down a minister and trying to besmirch the reputation of a government in relation to these matters simply do not wash with the public. Clearly, that is reflected in the opinion polls that all opposition senators take particularly close notice of. They are just not getting the message across. (Time expired)