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

I reject the proposition that because some people have been apparently imprisoned in error by the processes of a department it means the government is insensitive to family values. That is the equivalent of saying that anybody who suffers any kind of injury while in a state prison, incarcerated under the laws of the state, means that the state government is insensitive to the family values of the prisoner who has been injured. It is a ridiculous proposition.

I would remind the Leader of the Opposition that we put in place a process in relation to the Ombudsman, and it is the Ombudsman’s report which we commissioned from which he is quoting to ask me this question. In a large program dealing with illegal immigration, it is sadly the case that mistakes are made. No administration is perfect; there are mistakes made. This country, over the past few years, has had a problem with illegal immigration, either by people coming here illegally or overstaying their lawful permission to be in this country. It is because we have been willing to uphold the laws of this country and people have been taken into detention that inevitably mistakes have been made. But the alternative offered by the Australian Labor Party at various stages—

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