Laurie Ferguson (Reid, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services) Share this | Hansard source

Although he has taken it wrongly, I withdraw. Does that help you? As I said, we have had a very wide-ranging contribution from the last three members. One was wondering whether I was going to get to September 11 and the Berlin Wall and every other issue around the place. I want to deal very briefly with some of those comments. Quite clearly, anybody who follows these issues knows that people in Peshawar or Nairobi do not just get up in the morning, have a cup of tea and say, ‘I might wander over to Australia tomorrow afternoon.’ There is a clear correlation and push factors with regard to refugee claimants and other people coming to this country and events that occur in their homelands. Quite clearly, at the end of the disputes in Sri Lanka we are going to have a very strong push factor from the Tamils. Tamils are going to be more inclined to come to this country.

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