Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Oh, I have been told! If I am judging you incorrectly, I apologise. But I would urge people on both sides of this House to enter into a very constructive debate about what is an intractable problem, to cease even by inference making any allegations of improper behaviour against people who are doing the best they can to find safety for their families and to look at Australia's role in a larger context and find a way through for us to play the role that we can in providing a safe haven for people from third countries, working with our neighbours to improve the safety of those that are in transit countries. Again, I know we agree on this. I would hope that our rhetoric can settle somewhat and we can have a much more constructive debate.

I will just return very quickly to the bill, which I did speak on initially, so I have actually done better than the previous speaker. Thirty-five pieces of legislation covering the activities of our law enforcement officers on the sea is a little bit silly, to say the least. This bill has been a long time coming. There has been extensive consultation. I commend it to the House.

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