Craig Thomson (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think that the contribution just made by the member for Cook and those of the members for Denison and Melbourne highlight the difficulties of these issues. It is probably best summed up in terms of the contribution the member for Mayo made the other day when talking about detention. He said that you cannot be tough and humane at the same time in relation to asylum seekers. On one side, we have the member for Cook telling us that we are not tough enough; on the other side, we have the contributions from the members for Melbourne and Denison telling us that we are not being humane enough.

I believe we can be both tough and humane, and this Malaysian solution is an attempt to be both—humane in the way in which we treat asylum seekers in terms of the numbers of additional people that we will be bringing here as well as being tough in trying to break the people-smuggling model that is so insidious and terrible in the way in which it treats human beings. Let us not just take that from members of the government; let us actually have a look at what the UNHCR has said. We have had some rhetoric here about how bad this solution is, but that is does not stack up with what has been said by the experts in the area.

Yante Ismail in the West Australian on 16 May, the UNHCR spokesman said:

We don't see it in terms of a swap or a bargain ...

We see this as a commitment by the Australian Government to provide resettlement for 4000 people in need of an opportunity to rebuild their lives safely.

To us, it's a real commitment by Australia in burden-sharing with a country like Malaysia that is now coping with a large number of refugees and asylum seekers.

We think the agreement has the potential to enhance the protection for refugees in Malaysia, as well as the region as a whole.

If it realises more resettlement opportunities for refugees, this would be a positive outcome."

The member for Denison was the one who said that he found the swapping of people abhorrent. As I said, the UNHCR has said that they do not see it in those terms at all; they see it as a breakthrough in this area. We have to understand that with 92,000 registered refugees in Malaysia—270,000 there in total—we need to be doing our bit in making sure that we bring more people here.

It is not just one isolated UNHCR spokesman; it is many. Adrian Edwards said:

As we understand the MOU, Australia's obligations under the refugee convention are not compromised provided that the fundamental rights of asylum seekers and refugees are assured in Malaysia.

Richard Towle, the UNHCR regional representative says:

I think in that sense it has the potential to... make a significant practical contribution to what we're trying to achieve in the region.

And if it's a good experience other countries can look at it and say 'yes, that's a positive way of managing these issues. Perhaps we want to embark on similar or other initiatives under a regional cooperation framework.

The UNHCR Malaysian representative, Alan Vernon said:

… under this agreement, to the extent to which we have all the details— and of course we know that it's a work in progress which is still being discussed...we see that there are opportunities for better protection for refugees here in Malaysia, and more broadly in the region.

What the UNHCR is saying is that they see the Malaysian solution not as abhorrent but as a positive move both for asylum seekers in Malaysia and also in the region.

Most importantly, the contrast needs to made in terms of what the opposition are saying. The opposition's model is to put asylum seekers in Nauru. It does not attempt to break the people-smuggling process at all. This particular Malaysian solution does that: it goes to the source country from where the boats first leave and makes sure there are incentives for people to be treated fairly, humanely. Australia takes more refugees, but we do it in such a way that we discourage the vile trade of people smuggling.

For those on the left and on the right to criticise only shows what a difficult and tight balance this is, but I believe the government has got this right in relation to the Malaysian solution and this is something that should be supported by all members of this parliament.

See this speech in context