Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

too many genuine asylum seekers, including children, spent years behind razor wire, waiting, waiting, waiting. These people are now good, honest citizens and taxpayers. I have in my hand a reference which I wrote for one of them, someone who spent three years in detention, who had almost no English when he arrived, who ended up at Milperra, a facility formerly in the ward of the member for Ryan—I am sure she would know the Milperra State High School, which does great work for students with limited language facility. He went on to Yeronga State High School, a great school which also takes a lot of kids who do not have strong English. He was able to obtain a scholarship to attend university. I will not name him because I was not able to get him on the phone this morning when I found out that I was talking on this matter. He graduated with a degree, a Bachelor of Applied Science, and currently works as a laboratory technician for the Australian Laboratory Services.

These are the sorts of people who arrive on boats. They are good, hard-working, tax-paying citizens. Therefore, I find a little disingenuous the member for Cook demanding that asylum seekers be processed immediately, as in his amended motion. The Gillard Labor government is committed to protecting our borders, but we will not shirk our international obligations or our humanitarian obligations to asylum seekers. We are committed to a regional solution to issues of people smuggling and irregular migration in the region.

A regional problem demands a regional solution and that is why, through a regional protection framework, we will remove the incentive for people to risk their lives at sea. That is what we are trying to avoid. A regional processing centre will remove the incentive which people smugglers use to sell a ticket to Australia. It will destroy the market. The Gillard government will continue to develop a regional protection framework through the Bali process and through bilateral negotiations with our neighbours.

Apart from our Indigenous brothers and sisters, Australia is a country built by immigrants. Some 6.6 million people, including 700,000 refugee and humanitarian arrivals, have come to Australia since World War II. Australia has a proud record of welcoming those who come across the seas. It is even in our national anthem in the second verse—not a lot of people sing the second verse—that ‘For those who’ve come across the seas, we’ve boundless plains to share’, but I am sure the member for Cook would like that excised from the national anthem.

There is something in the Australian character that makes us terrified of small wooden vessels filled with people who come with hope. Is it because we are a nation formed by people from vessels which ran up a flag saying to the Aboriginal people, ‘This is now our land’? Maybe that is why it is a big part of the Australian psyche. If you go back through history, you see it. Initially when Captain Phillip landed in Botany Bay, six days before the French, he was able to say, ‘We just beat them.’ A few years later it was the Russians, then the Chinese and the Japanese and now it is Afghans and Tamils. For some reason politicians are able to latch onto this fear and cultivate it as much as possible. As every Christian person and every humanitarian would know, these boats are filled with people who are full of hope and aspirations for a decent life for their kids. Unfortunately, on their arrival we still have politicians who use fear to define the national response. It is a shameful aspect of the debate and hopefully will be changed. (Time expired)

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