Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

Once again, what we have heard from the minister is a focus on politics and not a focus on the policy. We hear numbers being recounted by the government members and by the minister himself; a complete focus on that. We hear the claim that all the sins of the past belong to one side of politics and the claim that all the credit for the present belongs to his side of politics.

Let me make this completely clear: it was the coalition, in combination with the Greens, that voted against the implementation of the Malaysian arrangement, which prevented it passing through this parliament. It was an arrangement that would have provided for the return of 800 people. We do not know how many people have been returned via the turnback policy of this government, because it is conducted under a shroud of secrecy. I think it is safe to say that, when we were talking about the return of 800 people—by the logic of the minister that you just heard as to the key step in putting an end to the five asylum seeker vessels—had the coalition worked with Labor back then to see the Malaysian arrangement implemented, then we could have brought this to an end years ago.

I will tell you why that did not happen. It did not happen because the last thing that the coalition wanted to happen was to see this issue resolved under Labor's watch. In that respect, there is a very different circumstance now. What the government enjoys is an opposition which absolutely wants to see an end to the five asylum seeker vessels from Java to Christmas Island—we absolutely want to see that. We have been doing everything we can to work with the government in that regard. That is something that this government enjoys, which the former Labor government did not enjoy. The coalition teamed up with the Greens to vote down the Malaysian arrangement. Since that time, we have seen more than 650 people lose their lives at sea and thousands of people come to Australia. If you want to have a proper and serious conversation about the sins of the past, that is a question that needs to be examined very closely. What was the rationale stated then? Malaysia, the coalition insisted, was not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention. Of course, now the policy of turning boats around is about turning people back to Indonesia, which also is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention.

Who could believe for a second the rhetoric that was used by the coalition back then when everyone sees the way the coalition conducts itself in office now? You simply cannot reconcile the two, and that is why you will never hear the coalition talk about what they did in relation to the Malaysian arrangement years ago. You will never hear that pass their lips because it is inexplicable, given the way the government acts now.

The other point to make is this, and this is a matter of public record: 90 per cent of the flow of asylum seeker vessels stopped after the regional resettlement arrangement was entered into by the then Rudd government on 19 July 2013. Without any change in the policy settings at all right through until December 2013, we saw that flow remain at about 10 per cent of what it had previously been. If we are going to talk about who gets credit for putting an end to the flow of asylum seeker vessels, any sober analysis must realise that the most significant step taken by any Australian government in bringing an end to the flow of asylum seeker vessels from Java to Christmas Island was the regional resettlement arrangement, which was entered into by the Rudd government.

The fact of the matter is that this kind of politicking is what we need going forward if we are to have an enduring resolution to this. I am not talking about one that will last a year or two, but one that is for the next decade or two. We need to be working together on this. It is why we have to see an end to the constant politicking on the part of the government. I will make this commitment now: nothing you might see in a future Labor government would remotely entertain the possibility of re-opening that journey from Java to Christmas Island. We want to see it ended, and it has ended.

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