Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Denison for moving the suspension of standing orders. I know that he has done so fully believing in the remarks that he has made and with a full compassion for the plight of the refugees not just in the Middle East but all across the world. That concern, that compassion, is shared by this side of the House very genuinely and, I am sure, shared by all members of the House. The effects of the media over the last couple of days could not but have had a major impact on every single Australian—every right-thinking Australian—and that is why the government has been going through the methodical, sensible process of government that you would expect over the last 24 or 48 hours. At the moment, our Minister for Immigration and Border Protection is on his way home from Geneva, where he has been meeting with the appropriate people in the UNHCR. He will then give a report to the National Security Committee, to the cabinet, and decisions will be made to do two things—to ensure that we strike ISIS, the Daesh death cult, as effectively as possible in order to protect not just Australia's interests but the interests of all good people across the world; but also we will need to have a sensible response to the refugee crisis that is unfolding in the Middle East and in Europe.

The Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs have already indicated in answers to questions both today and yesterday the sensible measures the government is putting in place to do our part as a nation to help refugees across the world. We are already, per capita, the most generous country in the world in terms of refugees. That is something that I am very proud of and I think all members of this House should be proud of. So we are responding as a good government should respond, in a methodical, sensible, compassionate and measured way. To rush these discussions, to act with urgency as you suggest, because of the media cycle over the last 24 hours, would not be the actions of a sensible government. The urgency that the member for Denison talks about is an urgency to get the response right, to do it correctly, to follow proper cabinet government and good process. That is the urgency that is required, and that is what the Abbott government is doing in response to what we are seeing in the Middle East.

So we will not be dealing with this issue as a political issue. Therefore the government will not support this suspension of standing orders in the House today to stop question time and deal with this matter as a debate, because, at the end of the day, we want the decisions being made about refugees and about the war in the Middle East to be made sensibly and, if possible, in a bipartisan way, so the entire parliament and the country support the measures by the government and, hopefully, agreed to by the opposition and the crossbenches. For that reason, we will not be supporting the motion. We know the motion is moved in good faith, and we respond in good faith, but on this occasion we will continue with the good government that we are giving Australians and not respond in the political way that has been suggested by the member for Denison.

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