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

I guess that says everything: we have someone over there who is infallible. The then minister in 1999 said:

It is timely to remember that the use of people smugglers … is a worldwide problem. Australia is not alone. We are also seeing large numbers of people seeking asylum in developed countries—people from the same groups as we are seeing in Australia. For example, Iraqi asylum-seekers are registered in 77 countries and last year there were over 34 000 applications for asylum lodged by Iraqis in 19 European countries.

Quite rightly, the minister at the time identified international factors as the primary reason that there was a high incidence of arrivals in our territories. He identified that matter and at the time the then opposition did not challenge that assertion because there was a bipartisan position in relation to the factors, the causes, that lead to high incidences of arrivals. Of course, unfortunately, that bipartisan—

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