Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In his speech on this bill, the Migration Amendment (Unauthorised Maritime Arrivals and Other Measures) Bill 2012, the member for Cook referred to the greatest region of the country, Western Sydney, and talked about the fact that he had been out there quite a bit. Out in my region, in RSLs and clubs, they often have hypnosis acts where the hypnotist will call people up from the crowd and hypnotise them. It is quite often the case that the hypnotist never actually applies their own arts to themselves. In the case of what the member for Cook just did, I cannot seriously think that he believes half the garbage that he passed through as some sort of parliamentary contribution today. He mentioned a couple of times that he and the coalition support the bill but then went on to provide us with a whole range of arguments that were breathtaking in their hypocrisy.

Consistency in public life is absolutely the goal. In terms of the setting of policy, it is absolutely important. But consistency that ignores reality and is divorced from reality and circumstance is not a substitute for good policy. We are not going to have a situation where those opposite, in terms of consistency, substitute policy and thinking differently about changed circumstances for just holding the line on something that they believe worked 10 years ago, when there is nothing to substantiate whether it will actually hold true today.

All those opposite have had on this issue in dealing with irregular maritime arrivals is to go back to what John Howard did. The member for Warringah has never had an idea that John Howard has not thought of first. Anything that is in his playbook right now is pretty much going back to what former Prime Minister John Howard advocated—and there is never anything really new. That is why they are stuck on this issue of consistency. It is because, when they open the policy cupboard, frankly, it is bare.

How is it they can lecture about consistency when, for example, they opposed our Malaysia agreement on the basis that Malaysia was not a country that was a signatory to the refugee convention and yet, on the other hand, they pursue a policy that advocates towing boats back to Indonesia, which, funnily enough, is not a signatory to the refugee convention?

And, in most recent times, they have announced a policy that would have Sri Lankan asylum seekers automatically sent back to Sri Lanka, with no processing of their claims in accordance with the refugee convention. This coalition policy announced in September has no regard for the convention. Are they sending them back to a country that is a signatory to the convention? No.

They lecture us on consistency and bring up comments in relation to consistency throughout this debate. For example, when they were seeking the support of the Greens in the House when we were dealing with the member for Lyne's resolution in relation to asylum seekers back in June, they said they would support an increase in the humanitarian intake, which is advocated in the Houston report. That report has a series of recommendations into which we have breathed life over the course of the last few months. On the one hand, the coalition say that they will support that; then last week the member for Warringah, the Leader of the Opposition, said they will not support that. And they come in here and talk about consistency, when we see a complete absence of consistency from their side.

They talk about suppressing dissent. During that debate on the member for Lyne's resolution, I clearly remember, as many in this House would remember, the member for Curtin, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Julie Bishop, and another coalition member bookending the member for Moore and preventing the member for Moore from exercising his view on what should be done in relation asylum seekers. How is it that they can overlook that suppression of a view on their side and put pressure on the member for Moore and the member for Pearce—

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