Labor and LNP strike deal on immigration detention on final sitting day

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Labor and the Coalition have struck a deal to rush bills on immigration detention through parliament in the final sitting days of the year. It's the latest in a series of laws which push the legal boundaries of government action against detainees.

Transcript

00:00Parliament is churning through legislation, passing laws to cut HECS debts, boost childcare

00:10workers' wages and lift school funding.

00:15The social media ban for kids under 16 has been rushed through the lower house, and it's

00:27expected to pass the upper house with just as much haste.

00:37Behind the scenes, a deal has been done between Labor and the Coalition to ram through three

00:43immigration bills.

00:44To pay other countries to take back immigration detainees with limited safeguards.

00:50To block all visitors from countries that won't take back their citizens.

00:54And the power to search detainees without a warrant and confiscate their mobile phones.

00:59The only reason you want to do that is so they don't have a lifeline.

01:02So they're out of sight, out of mind.

01:04I think the real problem here is that we have a government willing to repeatedly legislate

01:08in a manner that breaks the law.

01:10Labor hasn't spoken about the deal.

01:12The Coalition has.

01:14This is us setting the agenda when it comes to national security and immigration.

01:20They've decided to kowtow to the opposition and try and cut off some sort of fear campaign

01:25that they predict will come at the next election.

01:27A flurry of bills being passed and others being dumped.

01:31Labor's nature-positive laws to set up an independent federal environment agency have

01:36been shelved again.

01:39This time after the Prime Minister received a phone call from the West Australian Premier

01:44raising the concerns of the resources sector.

01:47They have had conversations at the highest level of the federal government and I've been

01:51assured that the nature-positive laws will not progress this week.

01:55Killing off the reform and a potentially damaging political battle in WA electorates.

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