Harry Jenkins (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

No. Malaysia is one of the countries but there are over 40 countries that could be classified like that. If the member for Dawson could, for once in his life, listen to a debate and not prattle on I will refer him to the next page because—oh my gosh!—this is not enough of a multilateral agreement; we get referred to the UN. We go over the page to clause (4):

(4) Within 14 days of designating a country under subsection (1), the Minister must, in writing, make a request to each of:

(a) the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; and

(b) the International Organization for Migration for a formal statement of the views of each of these organisations in relation to any arrangements that are in place, or are to be put in place, in the country for the treatment of persons taken into that country.

You talk about the conventions; this bill actually contains action. Shock, horror! The fact is, as mentioned by the member for Boothby, the Bali process was a creation of the Howard government. Goodness gracious! We picked it up when we were elected. We have run with it. It is multifaceted. It looks at ways in which we can assist those countries that are either source countries, transit countries or destination countries. While there have been some good contributions tonight I remind the House that one of the best contributions that has been made in this place about people movement and asylum seekers was made by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He understood what confronted us. We should not look inward. This is not just our problem; it is a problem that we share. This bill might have its defects but it is an attempt to bring together a process that can assist.

I may or may not have attended a meeting earlier today but what I did do was notice that there was a lot of agreement around the Bali process and a longer term solution. It might surprise people on the other side that there have been discussions amongst moving tribes in the Labor Party about how we should handle this long-term, but we have a short-term problem. If we can at least come to agreement on it in some way, with some variation of this bill, we will show that to the rest of the world and the region. I support this piece of legislation as a conclusion that will do something. (Time expired)

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