Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

To the Leader of the Opposition's question: yes, I am concerned about boat arrivals. I was concerned about them every day that the Leader of the Opposition came into this place and played his reckless negative politics in order to deny the nation the ability to process asylum seekers offshore. I was concerned about the cost of that reckless negativity to the nation every day it continued. And I continue to be concerned about the Leader of the Opposition's reckless negativity towards the Houston report. Let us remind ourselves who Angus Houston is. He is the former Chief of the Defence Force. Let us remind ourselves whom he was assisted by: Michael L'Estrange, a foreign policy expert, and Paris Aristotle, an expert in refugee policy. And yet, despite the delivery of that report, we have yet to hear the opposition say that it will embrace the national interest and work with the government to ensure all of its recommendations can be implemented.

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