Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

One thing that this House must remember is that there are serious criminal actions here at play: the people smugglers, who deal in the worst kind of trade. Since 2007 there have been 336 boats arrive—19,427 people, and I do not think anyone can count the number of people who did not make it to our shores, who drowned or perished or whatever.

I have met with many of the fine young men and women who have manned our ships and gone out on missions to detain and rescue and, sadly, to recover bodies. The stress that they go through, even though they keep a very brave face, is immense.

It is often said that leadership takes courage, but it also requires consistency in approach. The amendments that the coalition are putting up to support our three-plank policy—observing UN conventions and signatories to UN conventions as offshore processing centres, the TPVs and turning the boats around where practical—are a consistent approach. We have been consistent on that since day one.

The former speaker said that we had had this recent sign-up to the conventions of the United Nations. I have to say that what we have seen here on the other side is the abandonment of principles supporting the United Nations. I have a reasonably long memory. I sat in this House during the debates on Tampa and the associated bills. Members opposite—whether it was the member for Lyons, the member for Jagajaga, the member for Melbourne Ports or the member for Reid—all stood up, the Left wing, and condemned the Howard government; number one for offshore processing and number two for not observing the principles and rights expressed under the United Nations human rights convention.

We are not asking the Prime Minister to be inconsistent with her approach or commitments that she has given. In fact as the Leader of the Opposition said, when the Prime Minister was on the Howard Sattler program on 6PR just days before the election she said, 'I would rule out anywhere that is not a signatory to the refugee convention'. Now, we ask her not to rule it out—we do not ask her to change her view, we ask her to remain consistent to her view. Since 26 September Nauru is a signatory to the convention; Malaysia is not. The High Court in its determination has already expressed all of its reservations and concerns about the treatment of people that would be there, because there is no protection afforded under the United Nations Human Rights Convention.

There are a number of speakers from the other side who have expressed concerns: the member for Chisholm and the member for Fremantle amongst others. We ask them to observe what their core faith is. If their core faith, and I have heard it expressed over the years, is to support aspects of the United Nations, and in particular the human rights convention on refugees then they should adopt the coalition's amendment to this bill.

I just fear that we are going to go through a process here where there will be no change. I fear that the boats will keep coming, I fear that there will be more losses and I fear that people will suffer unnecessarily. We are not actually asking the government to change dramatically what its position was way back from the time of Tampa. We are saying, 'Come a little way; put back into place the policies and principles that stopped the boats'. We are saying to them, 'Observe that your adherence to the United Nations human rights convention is perhaps one of the best principles to apply'.

So stick to your guns, Prime Minister, and stand by your quote to Howard Sattler on 6PR, where days before the election you said you would not entertain sending anyone to a country which is not a signatory to the United Nations human rights convention. To do otherwise would just give further evidence to your statements on the carbon tax, where you made one statement before an election then did another thing. You made a statement about sending people to countries that were not signatories; we do not want you to change that now.

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