Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

and we did not have time for people whose attitude was to walk both sides of the street. He did it at Nambour State High School, he did on the TV ads and he is doing it right now.

The other question which Australians would ask is about honesty. Will you stand up for your decisions or will make up a border protection cabinet committee that makes a quiet, secretive decision and then scurry off whispering in each other’s ears: ‘Whatever you do, don’t cc the PM’s office. Just send this letter off in Tamil after you’ve found an interpreter, but make sure the Prime Minister doesn’t know about the decision because, when he’s asked, he needs to be able to say he knew nothing.’ He is only the place where the buck stops. But no decision is made if it is a tough one. No, that is done by some completely unelected committee.

I say to members of the government, to the staffers and bureaucrats: how do I convince the people sitting at the Cleveland Sands Hotel? How do I look them in the eye and tell them who cut this smokin’ deal? Do I say to them, ‘No, they’re staffers and bureaucrats’? Was the Prime Minister involved in this one? ‘No, the greatest collective control freak we’ve known as a leader of this country didn’t even know about the deal!’ I cannot sell that message at the Capalaba Tavern or the Grand View Hotel. I could not sell that if I tried, and I challenge anyone to attempt to.

Finally, there is the notion of a fair go, the one thing that we have always relied on in this country. Illegal arrival rules were tightened and improved in 2002 and, with that, the boats dropped away to three boats a year and then one boat a year—putting all the trickery of counting the numbers before 2002 aside. We clearly set up rules in this country which most Australians were extremely supportive of. I understand the Prime Minister has, as I have said, an awkward walk on both sides of the street, trying to appease conflicting constituencies. But the Australian people—and many of them do not read the papers every day, listen to the radio every day or watch TV all day—will be asking a simple question: was it really a fair go for those 78? First of all, they would not leave the Oceanic Viking, so they are rewarded for being obstructive. Second, when they are taken off they are promised, ‘Everything will be okay for you and you will be treated differently from those on the other side of the bars.’

This is a triumph for these asylum seekers, and their obstruction, over our Prime Minister. It has weakened our Indonesian relationship. It has been exposed for what it is by this side of the House. This government needs to look again at its actions of last week. I support this motion. (Time expired)

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