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

The Leader of the Opposition is ignoring the nation's interest. The nation's interest today requires that we deal expeditiously with the migration amendments which are before the parliament and that the legislation is passed so that the government can implement its arrangement with Malaysia and so executive government can have the power it needs to make appropriate arrangements for offshore processing. Instead of that, the Leader of the Opposition in this place is filibustering that debate; the Leader of the Opposition in this place is determined to defeat offshore processing; the Leader of the Opposition in this place is determined to see more boats landing on Australia's shores. When it comes to this debate it is incredibly clear that the only thing that has ever motivated the Leader of the Opposition is his narrow political interest. Well, the leadership questions that this nation faces are not about narrow political interest or about base political interest by the Leader of the Opposition; they are about answering the policy questions of our age responsibly, and that requires the Leader of the Opposition to work expeditiously on the debate before the House on the migration amendments and then to pass the government's amendments, not to wish for more boats arriving.

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