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

Even those opposite have recognised this in the past. At the last election, the Liberal Party's policy was that 'a commitment from the return country not to return persons seeking asylum to the place from which they came, claiming to be fleeing persecution, would be key'. That statement would lead you to believe that, if such an agreement could not be reached, nobody would be returned to that country. But, alas, it pains me to say that that appears now not to be the case. We have had a major policy development from the opposition. The Leader of the Opposition is good at saying no, but when a close partner and neighbour says no he appears not to understand the meaning of the word.

The Indonesian foreign minister said in this building last week that it would be impossible and ill-advised to have boats turned around on the high seas and sent to Indonesia. He said, 'That would give you a hint of our approach.' He is right. Hints do not get much bigger than that. Yet the Leader of the Opposition seems to think that this policy is not dead. Apparently it is just pining for the fjords. The policy of turning back the boats is not dead, and the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Cook seem to say that it does not matter what Indonesia thinks, they will send people there regardless. They say they want a foreign and asylum policy that is Jakarta focused. Well Jakarta have told us their focus and their focus is to reject the cheap populism of those opposite, to reject this cheap policy which puts at risk the lives of Australian Defence personnel and—

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