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

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Warringah from presenting forthwith a Bill for an Act to amend the Migration Act 1958, for the bill to be considered forthwith, for the time limits specified in standing order 1 for the consideration of private Members’ bills to apply and that the bill be given priority over all other business until the House has completed consideration of it.

I rise to move this suspension motion, because this parliament is meeting today in the shadow of unfolding disaster in the seas to our north. We know a terrible tragedy took place in the seas to our north late last week. We fear that another terrible tragedy may be unfolding right now in the seas to our north. Obviously, we grieve for all those in peril on the sea, but we should also pray that this House is capable of rising to the challenge of these times. The military personnel and others who are now sailing as quickly as they can to the rescue of those in the water to our north deserve all of our support, all of our prayers and all of our encouragement. But this parliament should do what it can to enable the government of the day to take a stronger policy response than has hitherto been the case to the unfolding disaster on our borders.

Standing orders must be suspended because the bill that I am proposing to bring forward now is a bill that seeks the common ground that does exist in this parliament. It is a bill that seeks to embody the common ground that does exist in this parliament to support legislation that will enable improved policy to be put in place. As all members of this House know, for more than a decade the opposition has had a very clear position on border protection. We support offshore processing at Manus and at Nauru. We support temporary protection visas that would deny the people smugglers a product to sell, and that more than anything else would undermine this evil trade that all of us in this House want to stop. Yes, more controversially we support government having the option of turning boats around where it is safe to do so, but crucially at all times in the last decade the coalition has supported offshore processing with protections. I stress that we have supported offshore processing with protections.

The government, the Labor Party, by contrast previously opposed all forms of offshore processing. That position changed shortly after the accession of the current Prime Minister. But even at the last election the current Prime Minister declared that offshore processing should only take place at countries which had subscribed to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. It was only last year that the government again changed its position to support offshore processing at Malaysia, a country which has not subscribed to the UN convention. What happened, as we know, is that the High Court said that the government cannot go ahead with offshore processing in Malaysia under the legislation as it currently stands.

The position of the government right now is that no offshore processing whatsoever can take place without new legislation. There can be no offshore processing at Malaysia, no offshore processing at Manus Island, no offshore processing at Nauru—that is the government's position. What my bill seeks to do is to give a legislative basis for offshore processing that the vast majority of members of this parliament will be prepared to support—not, it ought to be said, in Malaysia, but certainly at Nauru which the coalition and the government both support and in PNG which the coalition and the government both support. Let us give the government the legislation that it says is necessary for offshore processing, but let us give the government legislation that rests on the common ground between the parties in this parliament.

The legislation declares that the government should be able to process illegal maritime arrivals at any country, provided that country has subscribed to the United Nations refugee declaration. There are 148 countries around the world that offshore processing could take place in under the legislation that I wish to put before the parliament. It could happen in PNG, it could happen in Nauru, it could happen in East Timor, it could happen in the Philippines. There are countries in our region where offshore processing could take place under the legislation that I am proposing, so my legislation does give the government a firm legislative basis for the stronger policy response which is so obviously necessary to deal with the second disaster in a week in the seas to our north.

This coalition does not, and will not ever, support the processing of illegal maritime arrivals in Malaysia. We failed to support offshore processing in Malaysia, not because of any ill will towards the country, which is a good friend as well as a neighbour of ours. But, as I said earlier, the firm position of this coalition for more than a decade is that we do not support just any offshore processing; we support offshore processing with appropriate protections. People who have come into the care of this country of ours, even if only briefly, should not be sent to a country that does not observe our standards. And this is not a criticism of any other country; it is simply a statement of fact. The standards of Malaysia when it comes to dealing with unlawful noncitizens are radically different from the standards of Australia.

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