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

I thank the member for Canning for providing me with a bigger audience so I could prosecute the argument that in 1999 the former minister for immigration was correct when he said it was international factors. But as soon as other international factors came into play—for example, the repatriation in Afghanistan soon after 2001 and the invasion of Iraq soon after that, which led to a significant decline in those seeking asylum—the then government chose to say it was domestic factors that determined the actual slowing of arrivals into this country. I would suggest that, primarily, international factors are the causes of people seeking asylum around the world, seeking to come to First World countries. Indeed, that is the case here and it was the case in 1999, in 2000 and in 2001. But before we get too carried away about praising the then former minister, it is important to note that under his watch the numbers of arrivals were extraordinarily high.

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