QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for the Environment and Water) (14:42): Thanks, Senator Whitten. Senator Whitten, there are a lot of numbers in there. In my experience, I don't tend to rely on numbers from One Nation.

I tend to rely on numbers that come from independent sources, such as the Bureau of Statistics, which has, today, shown that, as a result of the government's efforts, we have brought down net overseas migration by 47 per cent—nearly halved it since the numbers that we inherited from the coalition, from the broken, rorted, fraudulent migration system that was presided over by the coalition.

I know it's really embarrassing for the coalition that you used to be run by a bloke called Peter Dutton, just like it's embarrassing that you used to be run by a person called Sussan Ley and just like you're embarrassed that you used to be run by a bloke called Scott Morrison. I know there's a lot to be embarrassed about, but the reality is that the review that was conducted of the migration system after we came to office found that the migration system presided over by the coalition was fundamentally broken, was full of rorts and needed to be reformed.

It's that reform that we have undertaken for the last four years which has resulted in net overseas migration falling by 47 per cent, and, of course, we are now building on that work, as a result of the new policies that have been announced today which carefully balance the need to make sure that we have a migration policy that is sustainable, that we have migration numbers that are sustainable, that value the role of migrants in our community in a way that One Nation will never do and that also ensure that we supply the workforce needs of Australia.

Senator Whitten, as I said earlier in the week, I don't know when you last walked into a hospital or an aged care facility or an abattoir in Australia. We rely on migrant labour. We need to get the migration numbers down but without crushing the economy.

The PRESIDENT: Senator Whitten, first supplementary?