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

The member for McMillan described it as the kind of vilification of asylum seekers that is unacceptable in this nation. Senator Brandis denied ever discussing it with the shadow minister for immigration. Parliamentary secretary Scott Ryan said that he is not familiar with the detail, and it all ended up with a rather embarrassing admission from Tony Jones that it was the shadow minister's proposal—his own proposal—and he acknowledged that on the opposition benches people were not prepared to stand alongside it. So if we are going to have this kind of material put before the House then let us have all of it put before the House, including that members of the opposition have been revolted by policy suggestions put forward by the shadow minister for immigration, and for good reason.

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