Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

Members of parliament not being allowed to speak sets the pattern for what we are about to see over the next couple of days. When we get to 20 past one tomorrow afternoon and the minister stands in reply, we will have a piece of legislation that is no better than the one we have now. It will not be any better and it cannot be any better, because the principle behind it is fundamentally wrong. It is just wrong to pretend that you are a nation without borders. It is just wrong to throw away your immigration law at the request of another country. You do not abandon your sovereignty to preserve another nation’s sovereignty.

Now that we have coalition members of parliament actively negotiating and a parliamentary committee unanimously recommending that this bill should not proceed, the demand on the Australian government is really simple. The demand on the Australian government is completely straightforward. For weeks and weeks, this government has been willing to listen and has proven that it can listen to the concerns of Indonesian parliamentarians. All we ask is for the government to listen to the concerns of Australian parliamentarians—and we all know that is the one thing this government does not want to do.

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