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

an opportunity to send the clearest possible message to people smugglers that, although the two sides of the House may have their differences, although we may disagree about methods and about tactics, we agree that people smugglers should not be able to run the migration program into Australia. It was an opportunity to send the message that we would act as one in the national interest and an opportunity to send the message that we would act to provide a disincentive for people making the dangerous boat journey to come to Australia. But instead what we see is more politics as usual from the Leader of the Opposition.

The government believes that the Malaysia arrangement is in the national interest, because all our advice tells us that it would be the most effective deterrent to making the dangerous boat journey—and that advice has been provided to the opposition. If the opposition wilfully ignore this advice, the Australian people are entitled to conclude that the opposition have done so simply because they are afraid it will work. They are afraid it will work—and they will stop at nothing in their own political interest. They are afraid it would not be in their political interest for this to happen.

I am asked about the importance of non-refoulement in the border protection policy. It is a very important and fundamental tenet of the refugee convention. That is why we have painstakingly negotiated non-refoulement clauses into the Malaysia agreement. It is important that any arrangements entered into by Australia reflect that importance. That is one of the reasons this government has rejected the policy of turning back boats on the high seas. There are some in this House who say it is okay to send boats to Indonesia with no protections negotiated but it is not okay to send planes to Malaysia with protections negotiated. That is another reason the Australian people are entitled to conclude that what we are seeing from this Leader of the Opposition is cheap opportunism and hypocrisy, because his opportunism and hypocrisy speak for themselves. The cheap and feeble excuse from the opposition for this inconsistency—

Mr Laming interjecting—

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