QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for the Environment and Water) (14:39): I'm always careful, Senator Roberts, to not concede that what you put forward as facts are actually facts, particularly on matters relating to migration because we know that you and your party seek to divide Australians based on the issue of migration. If any evidence of that is needed, it's the conclusion of your question which yet again seeks to tar all Muslim Australians and Muslim migrants with the action of a small minority who do the wrong thing.
It wasn't that long ago that your party leader, Senator Hanson, effectively said that there was no such thing as a good Muslim, a statement that we utterly reject and, in fact, Senator Whitten rejected, to his credit. The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts? Senator Roberts: I have a point of order.
That's not accurate; she did not say that. That was a media beat-up. The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, thank you for sitting down when I requested it.
Minister Watt, please continue. Senator WATT: Senator Hanson's comments on Muslims were so outrageous that Barnaby Joyce distanced himself from them and Senator Whitten distanced himself from them. I don't recall you distancing yourself from those comments, Senator Roberts, and it's a matter for you to determine how you feel about those statements.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts? Senator Roberts: I just did distance myself because the comments weren't accurate. The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, that's not a point of order; it's a debating point.
Minister Watt, have you concluded your answer? Senator WATT: What I've said repeatedly in answer to questions from One Nation on the issue of migration in this chamber is that the Albanese government proudly has a policy of not discriminating against migrants based on their religion or other personal attributes. We will always consider the merits of every migration application.
Each and every day, we reject applicants who are seeking to move to Australia and migrate to Australia on the basis of character checks and other reasons, but we don't have a blanket rule of stopping all people from a certain faith in the way that One Nation seeks to do. The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, first supplementary?