Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Werriwa for his question. It was my pleasure and privilege yesterday to visit Jakarta to attend the inauguration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as President of Indonesia. I was there with the Prime Minister of Singapore, the Prime Minister of Malaysia and representatives of governments from around the region and around the world.

This was an important occasion in our bilateral relationship. After 10 years of the return of democracy to Indonesia it is good to see we have now seen three successfully concluded elections in Indonesia. Indonesia represents a strong global and regional partner for Australia, now through the councils of the G20; increasingly on the question of climate change through the Bali road map, which leads to Copenhagen at the end of this year; and also of course in our combined efforts to combat transnational crime. I was also pleased to be able to speak with the President of Indonesia about Australia’s efforts in assisting Indonesia with recent natural disasters, including the appalling earthquake and its human consequences at Padang and Sumatra.

Together with the President of Indonesia, the Prime Minister of Singapore and the Prime Minister of Malaysia I also discussed separately our cooperation on transnational crime, particularly the challenge we all face with people smuggling. We expect to expand our cooperation with these governments into the future, including Indonesia, and we believe that is the right way to go. This is a global problem; it is a regional problem; it is a national problem for all of us.

When the question of people smuggling arises, what we have been witness to in this place and in the community more broadly for the last period of time is the Liberal Party’s most recent campaign, which is a fear campaign on immigration. The fear campaign is based on two core claims. The first is as follows—

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