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

I thank the honourable member for her question. I would simply ask her to reflect on one thing, and that is in the period of the previous government there was a policy of putting kids behind razor wire; this government does not put kids behind razor wire—because we have a different set of values. We actually believe in making sure we have got the policy right. If people come to this country and they are judged to have legitimate asylum status, they stay; if they are seen to be illegitimate, they are sent home. That is our policy, but, in terms of how we handle people on the way through, we will do so with dignity and respect—and that does not include putting kids behind razor wire, like the previous government did.

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