DIMA Migration Amendment Submission: "a queer act" from public servants
"The submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee about the latest Migration Amendment Bill - the only
one amongst the 138 submissions received that supports the Bill - is the queerest submission of the lot, and deeply
disturbing and inappropriate for public servants," WA Rights group Project SafeCom said this morning.
"It is beyond belief, that public servants would positively and confidently barrack in favour of a Bill that's not
legislation as yet in any way, shape or form, and it's the clearest piece of evidence that the Department of Immigration
has not undergone any thorough form of functional "clean-up" since the Cornelia Rau and Vivian Alvareez," says spokesman
Jack H Smit.
"Fighting to get a Bill passed by barracking for it, is not the role of the Public Service. Its role is to implement
existing legislation and act as an instrument of this legislation. Frankly speaking, submitting highly partisan material
to a Senate Committee, defending legislation that does not even exist, falls squarely outside their role. This morning,
speaking on ABC Radio, Senator Trish Crossin, Deputy Chair of the Senate Committee, confirmed that the DIMA submission
was the only one amongst the submissions that spoke in favour of the Bill."
"The Department of Immigration has plenty to do, and that certainly does not include trying to make Bills into
legislation by trying to paint these Bills in a certain light."