Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to oppose the assertions made by the Leader of the Opposition in relation to this matter of public importance. The fact is that the government have been working very hard to ensure that we continue to prosecute people smugglers and that we continue to smash organised criminal syndicates in the region that have been seeking to lure people—sometimes desperate people—on unseaworthy vessels and on perilous journeys for an empty promise. We will continue to do that with our friends in the region. We will continue to fight this vile trade and continue to work through these matters, because they are regional challenges; they are international challenges needing regional and international solutions. That is what this government has been doing since it was elected. It was elected also on a commitment to make changes to a number of areas in this realm, none of which changes were opposed by the opposition. It is rank opportunism, to say the very least, that at a time when we see people—and desperate people on occasion—in difficult situations, the opposition seeks to gain political mileage.

I believe it is very important that, as a government that wants to assure our people and a government that wants to bring those people to justice, we act in a consistent manner and wherever possible—particularly because these matters sometimes go to issues of national security—we act in a bipartisan manner. Clearly, the opposition does not seek to take that path. Clearly, the opposition, and the Leader of the Opposition in particular, seeks to take an opportunistic path, seeks to create fear among our community and seeks to smear not only the government but also those that work for the government and those that work for our departments. They are the choices we have. This government will continue, as the Prime Minister has made clear, to be tough on people smugglers, to provide wherever possible a humane approach for those people who are genuinely seeking asylum. We have a reasonable and, I think, a generous resettlement program, where we allow up to 13,750 people to be resettled in this country. We, like almost all developed nations, have such a program, so we do provide our fair share of opportunities for people to seek asylum.

But I think it is really important, when we enter this chamber to have this debate, that we consider the context in which we are debating these matters. We should consider the sheer scale of this global problem. According to the UNHCR, there are 42 million displaced people around the world, 15 million of whom are approximated to be refugees, five million of whom are within our region. It is of course a major problem for all nations and therefore we need to deal with source countries, transit countries and indeed destination countries in order to find solutions. That is why since we have been elected we have continued to develop and enhance cooperation in the region. That is why, for example, as recently as September this year we saw the Indonesian national police, with our support and with the support of our agency, the Australian Federal Police, develop for the very first time a people-smuggling task force of 145 dedicated officers in 12 locations in Indonesia in order to dismantle organised syndicates. That is why we have seen very recently the announcement of the Malaysian government to criminalise people smuggling for the very first time in order to tackle this regionally. We need to continue to do that because there is going to be no end of people seeking asylum in First World countries. The numbers of those who seek to come here will wax and wane but there will always be this issue and we have to ensure in that environment that we do everything we can to prevent criminals from seeking to exploit such people—and we will continue to do so.

We have said all along that the primary reason for the increased incidence of people seeking a haven in this country is the increased conflicts in our region. We have said all along that, as a result of the increased violence in Afghanistan in 2008—in fact, the United Nations have assessed that last year was the most violent year in Afghanistan for seven years—we have seen an increase in people seeking to go to First World countries. Some seek to come here but most seek to go elsewhere. We have also said that, clearly, as a result of the long and bloody civil war in Sri Lanka, there has been an increased number of people seeking a haven in our country whilst of course the majority have sought to go elsewhere among the First World nations.

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