Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question, and it really does have a very simple answer. As a government, we tell people the truth; as an opposition, you engage in spin and slogans. In the spirit of telling people the truth, when I first spoke about this matter as Prime Minister at the Lowy Institute I made it abundantly clear that achieving my vision of a regional protection framework and regional processing centre would take some time. I was very frank with Australians about the sources of unauthorised arrivals. I was very frank with Australians about the number of arrivals. I was very frank with Australians about sharing and understanding their concerns. But I also said to Australians at the time, very clearly, very frankly, that there was no slogan that would fix this problem, that there was no one-word policy that would fix this problem, that it would take patient and methodical work, and we are engaged in that patient and methodical work as a government now, with the work that has been done by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.

I understand that the opposition believes it has profited off the cheap politics it has played around the asylum seeker question, just as it sought to profit off this cheap politics when it was in government, causing fundamental divisions amongst its backbench because members like the former member for Kooyong stood up against it. I wait to see members on the back bench today who shared those concerns under the Howard government once again stand up against this cheap politics. Despite current signs, I am actually very confident that they will, because the complete inability of the opposition to deal comprehensively with the question of children in detention—

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