Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

It is an honour to follow my friend and colleague the member for North Sydney in this debate, and I thank him for the contribution that he has made to the House.

Let me say that, as far as the coalition is concerned—yesterday, today, forever—the Malaysia deal is a dud deal. It is a bad deal for Australia; it is a cruel deal for boat people. We will never, ever support it. It is still a dud deal, even if it is only going to last for 12 months. The coalition will never connive at a bad deal, let alone for 12 months. So we will not be supporting the amendment that has been moved by the member for Denison.

What has happened in the last hour or so is that this House has voted for legislative deadlock. This House has turned its back on a legislative proposal, the amendment put forward by the member for Cook, that would have gone through this chamber and through the Senate. So this House has voted for deadlock tonight because the proposal which is now before the House will never go through the Senate. It will never get support in the Senate. It should never get support in the Senate, because it will never work in ways that the Australian people will ever support.

First, it is limited to just 800. Second, it exposes people going from Australia to Malaysia to punishments that we would regard as completely cruel and unusual. I do not say that in any spirit of criticism of Malaysia, but their standards are not our standards, and we should treat people in accordance with our standards, not theirs. A decent and humane country accords everyone who comes under our protection the kind of treatment that we believe is decent and humane.

I challenge members opposite, who spent so much time attacking the Howard government for sending boat people to Nauru, where they were looked after by Australians in accordance with Australian standards, to justify the abominable deeds that they are about to propose in the upper house. In the end, it is not going to work, because we know what the people smugglers will do; they will send women and children. They will load up the boats with women and children. Whatever fudges the minister might put forward, whatever weasel words the Prime Minister and the minister might put forward, they will stay in Australia and, if just one of them goes back to Malaysia and is treated abominably, this government will stand condemned as a government with absolutely no ethical standards whatsoever.

This coalition has been entirely consistent over the years. We have always stood for principles that would stop the boats and at the same time maintain the standards of decency of this country. What this parliament has done this evening is say no to legislative progress. It has said no to increased refugee intakes. This Prime Minister has said no to the things she claimed to believe in before the election. We know the Prime Minister has form when it comes to saying one thing before an election and doing something different after the election. Yet again, that is exactly what we have seen from this Prime Minister today.

What we have seen from this government is every single position on border protection except one that will actually work. If it were ever put into practice, this one would not work; but it will not be put into practice, because it will not even pass the parliament, because the Prime Minister has rejected the compromise put forward by the opposition today.

The Prime Minister has chosen a pyrrhic victory in this House, over legislation that would actually pass the parliament and would actually make a difference and would actually stop the boats. Shame on her.

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