Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate what Madam Speaker is saying. It is our intention to suspend standing orders so we can address the issue of secrecy, so we can address the inability of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to explain and his hiding behind 'Everything is operational, everything is to do with the military, everything is on a boat, everything is at water.' He is at sea!

We are talking about this matter of the Prime Minister promising to lead an open and transparent government. He came up with another cracker of a slogan. He said there would be no surprises and no excuses. But when something is an operational matter, that is an excuse. When something is at sea, that is an excuse.

Why is it that after all the good work that the previous government did building positive relations with Indonesia, these foreign relations vandals have got into power and started dictating what should be the case to other countries? Diplomacy requires respect. Not providing any debate or respect and telling people what to do and simply treating everything in terms of the next domestic slogan is not the way to conduct a government.

Most importantly in terms of this proposition, Labor on this side knows that the Australian people deserve the respect of a full explanation. Day after day, we have seen the minister for immigration deny, obfuscate and avoid the real issues. Today we saw a brazen attempt. When he was asked, 'What is it that you can't tell parliament today that you'll tell tomorrow?' we got an explanation unprecedented since Federation: 'It's not in the folder'! What will we get next week? 'The dog ate my homework'? 'I left my running gear at home and my explanation was there'?

It is not good enough for a minister of the Commonwealth to say, 'It's in the folder and, if it's not in the folder, then I know nothing.' Sergeant Schultz on Hogan'sHeroes said, 'I know nothing.' What he should have said is, 'It is not in the folder, therefore I know nothing'! It is not appropriate to say, 'If it is not in the folder, I can't help you.' All we get from the minister for immigration is a folder carrier, a postbox, someone who says, 'I can't help you today, but I might come back tomorrow.'

The business of government is not just a Friday matter and then you take the other six days off. The business of government is not hiding behind the military and saying five times in a row at a press conference that you will handball it to the military. The military should not be used to do the job of ministers. Ministers should be used to do the jobs of ministers. It is not enough and it is not satisfactory to say, 'We can't tell you how many boats we've turned back, because that might tell the people smugglers what's going on.' I actually think that the minister for immigration inadvertently tripped over the truth.

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