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

Once again, the Leader of the Opposition’s question carries within it the assumption that there is a second set of circumstances other than those that pertain to the general application of Australian and Indonesian arrangements under these circumstances with the UNHCR. I simply go back to what the Minister for Foreign Affairs said. Recently, he said quite clearly in a radio interview that, firstly, this vessel was picked up in the course of a search and rescue operation. That is a fact. Secondly, when the vessel was brought ashore, consistent with the approval of Indonesian authorities, the normal application of processes applied. This was, again, underlined yesterday in a letter, which provides such profound discomfort for those opposite, from the secretary of our immigration department—and previously of their immigration department—where, quite clearly, he says: ‘The Indonesian government and the Australian government have agreed to a set of arrangements regarding the time frames for the processing of the group in Indonesia, consistent with international practice and resettlement procedures.’ Again, I simply draw that to the attention of the Leader of the Opposition.

I go back to the extraordinary attempt that the Leader of the Opposition has made in the last 24 hours to accuse me, once again, of misleading the parliament on my knowledge of the content of the document put forward by the Jakarta embassy. He said that quite explicitly. He said that I had misled the parliament on that matter. This is a grave accusation. He said it once before, this year, and that was in relation to the Utegate affair, which was based on a forged email. My question to the Leader of the Opposition when he stands to his feet next time is: will he provide to us the evidence upon which he has based this most recent baseless accusation?

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