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

I thank the member for Melbourne Ports for his question. Of course the government is committed to working in the national interest and restoring to the executive the power to set Australia's border protection policies. Our policy is the Malaysia arrangement—the first of its kind in the region. It represents a new level of international cooperation to tackle an international problem and it is negotiated under the regional framework, with protections built in. It includes guaranteed protections committed to by the Malaysian government of non-refoulement, work rights, access to health care and schooling for those transferred. These protections have been worked through with the UNHCR and agreed to by two sovereign nations in good faith.

I am asked by the member for Melbourne Ports about different ways the Australian government can work with countries in our region on protection. The Leader of the Opposition, of course, has a different view—he has criticised the arrangement as not being legally binding.

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