John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The government is not acting in any way to appease Indonesia. As evidence of that, I do intend when I next see the Indonesian President—notwithstanding the advice tendered by the gentleman quoted by the member who asked me the question—to raise the question of Abu Bakar Bashir and I do intend to put to the Indonesian President the strongly held views of the Australian people regarding this issue.

So far as the legislation to which the member refers is concerned, this government remains quite firm in its resolve to, where opportunity presents, further strengthen our border protection. Unlike the Labor Party, we have a strong, unequivocal position on protecting this country’s borders. Unlike the Labor Party, we have a very strong and determined position in relation to deterring illegal immigration. If the honourable gentleman is candid enough about the research that I am sure he has done on this issue, he will know that back in 2001 there was no more frequent advocate of the need to cooperate with Indonesia than the current Leader of the Opposition. In fact, on one occasion the Leader of the Opposition effectively said, ‘Oh, you can fix all this border protection stuff by ringing up the Indonesian President and having a chat about it.’

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