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

To the member for Denison, of course PNG is a sovereign nation so it has the ability to control who gets visas and who enters PNG. I think that is self-evident.

In terms of people who are in PNG and who then seek access to the detention centre on Manus Island, unlike the former Howard government, we have been in the business of enabling there to be transparency about what is happening in detention centres. That is why, for example, the Red Cross has been able to travel to that centre and it is why the International Organization for Migration has been able to travel to that centre and it is why, indeed, even Senator Hanson-Young in the other chamber has been able to travel to that centre. So in terms of openness and transparency, that is the track record of the government.

When it comes to why we have people in offshore processing, it comes to the same answer that I just gave to the Leader of the Opposition, although I understand the member for Denison is coming at this from a very different perspective.

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