The Morrison government is gearing up for a national security election, daring Labor to vote for a bill that would ease deportation of permanent visa holders for low-level offending and amping up its rhetoric on “appeasement” of China.
In caucus Labor reserved its position on the strengthening character test bill – which it previously helped defeat in the Senate – ahead of a lower house vote on Wednesday, which Scott Morrison claimed would prove whether Labor was “on the side of criminals”.
