Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday, on my favourite radio station, ABC Far North Queensland, Peter Miller, the acting chair of the Weipa Town Authority, said of our consultation in relation to the Scherger site, ‘I believe that the concerns of the committee have been addressed or are being addressed. Generally it is only positive things now for Weipa.’ That is what you can achieve when you engage positively. This government has engaged in far more discussion with the local community than the member for Berowra ever did when he opened detention centres at Baxter, Woomera, Curtin and elsewhere. This government is actually talking to local communities, something the previous government never did when they engaged in opening detention centres across the country.

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