Ministerial accountability used to be a reasonably straightforward thing: if something went wrong in your portfolio, it was your responsibility and you resigned.
The first migration-related controversy to hit the Albanese government was a result of a High Court decision last year which meant When the government finally counterpunched, it was to start releasing statistics on those who had been released from detention when Dutton was home affairs minister, including 102 sex offenders.But if we move away from the political volleys, the underlying question of the capacity of the bureaucracy in this portfolio area has to be an important one, not just in terms of what has happened in the past, but in terms of how effectively our immigration system can work in the future.
Christine Nixon's report found that the process of integration in 2015 resulted in "diminishing investigative and field compliance resources, specialist migration investigations have reduced, and visa and migration fraud competes for priority with other high priority activity, including serious and organised criminal threats involving illicit drugs, tobacco and supply chain integrity".
The Parkinson review described "an aged information and communications technology backbone and problems with technological adoption and use of data within the Department of Home Affairs".It's not the only one of course. For years, both sides of politics have gained 'savings' to the budget bottom line from 'efficiency dividends' — effectively perpetual cutbacks in funding and staffing levels across the bureaucracy.
On Friday, shadow finance minister Jane Hume was complaining of "Labor's bureaucratic binge" since being elected, which she said amounted to 36,000 extra public servants since 2024, a number Peter Dutton also used in his budget speech in reply, later saying cutting the numbers would be a key source of savings.
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Source: 7NewsSydney - 🏆 16. / 63 Read more »