March 3, 2025
Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson has raised concerns about the conduct of the Home Affairs department while leaving open the option to replace secretary Stephanie Foster if the Coalition comes to power.
Senator Paterson told ABC's Insiders program that he was concerned about the way the Department of Home Affairs had conducted itself on "several issues" and pointed to citizenship ceremonies conducted by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.
"It was disclosed in Senate estimates this week that the Department arranged these ceremonies according to the minister's personal availability, even though it's not necessary for him to be there to officiate these ceremonies," Senator Paterson said.
Ms Foster told estimates that Mr Burke asked the department to schedule ceremonies within a certain timeframe.
"He gave us a window of availability and we scheduled them," Ms Foster said.
However, Ms Foster also pointed out that other ceremonies occurred when Mr Burke was not available and the department was proceeding with them.
In the interview, Senator Paterson also said politicians were sent invitations to ceremonies based on their party affiliation.
"Tony Burke ensured that Labor MPs were invited to visit them, but Liberal MPs weren't."
Acting assistant secretary Sneha Chatterjee told estimates that Liberal politicians were invited, including Senator Andrew Bragg, who chose not to attend, as well as Senator Kerrynne Liddle, who did attend an event in Adelaide.
Senator Paterson, on Insiders, said the issue was a "real problem".
"I think the department could have and should have pushed back more on that," he said.
"The secretary should have stopped this from happening."
Senator Paterson has made no secret of his wish to overhaul the department, were he to become the minister.
In an interview last month with this masthead, Senator Paterson said he wanted to continue to improve the culture of the department and reiterated plans for the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police to be brought back into the portfolio after Labor transferred the agencies to the Attorney-General's Department.
On Sunday, March 2, Paterson was asked whether he would replace Ms Foster if the Coalition won the upcoming election.
"It's not appropriate for me to canvas that publicly prior to the election. As you know, it's not the role of the minister to choose the secretary of a department. It's the role of the Prime Minister to do that, and we'll make those decisions if and when we win the election. Not before."
When asked if he had confidence in Ms Foster, Senator Paterson directed his criticism towards the department as a whole.
