Coalition senator calls for a new approach to proposed deportation bill [Video]

The Coalition’s assistant multicultural spokesman Paul Scarr says parliamentarians need to inject greater empathy into the debate over Labor’s controversial deportation bill and consider the futures of young working people who face mandatory jail terms if it is passed.

The Queensland Liberal senator said the proposed legislation had “real-world consequences” for traumatised and vulnerable people in multicultural communities, and passionately urged decision-makers from all sides of politics to register the distress being caused.

“You need to be very sensitive and empathetic when you are considering issues like this and make sure the voices of those communities are heard,” Scarr said. “I think everyone in the political system has to reflect on that. We’re dealing with many communities who have been through great trauma.”

Scarr’s comments mark a pointed intervention in the debate between the Albanese government and …