Direct provision reform
Senator Warfield and Senator Gavan pressed for a redesign of direct provision and argued that the Government was not doing enough. The Leader replied that many McMahon recommendations had been taken up and said people should be moved out more quickly, while inviting ideas on the solution.
I knew it. Every time the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, comes in here he says we need solutions. Is the Leader telling me that the wherewithal does not exist within the Department of Justice and Equality to redesign the direct provision system?
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The Government does not care. That is the problem.
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That is incorrect. Some of us who have worked on direct provision, both in this House and the other House, have been working hard with the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton. More than 140 of the recommendations of the McMahon report have been accepted and worked on. I fully concur with Senator Warfield and I also agree with Senator Gavan. We need to move people out of direct provision more quickly. I am asking them what the solution is. Maybe we could reflect on that question.
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The solution is to move many more people.
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I am not asking for an adversarial debate because my record, as I think Senator Gavan will agree, is one of promoting and upholding human rights, as is his own.