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

Last week, the politics of immigration in this building changed, and in a wonderful way. The order of the day was generosity, which is exactly how it should be. This, of course, is not how these events started. As late as last Sunday week, the government's position remained one of not contributing any additional places to the Syrian crisis beyond our humanitarian framework, but a few days can be a long time in politics. Last Monday week, the opposition called on the government to provide, as a start, 10,000 refugee places to the crisis in Syria and to coordinate amongst states and community groups within the country a way in which that could be done, along with making a contribution of $100 million towards the state of affairs in Syria.

That announcement was met by some on the government side with a predictable narrow-mindedness, but the government itself responded in a very welcome way by a contribution of 12,000 places, which, by international standards, is generous indeed. I would like to acknowledge the role of the minister in seeing that happen, being, as he was, in Geneva and speaking with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees during the course of last week. It is a really significant contribution to the situation in the world today. We also acknowledge the $44 million that the government put on the table, which will change the lives of tens of thousands of people in and around Syria. As the shadow minister for foreign affairs said, we would have preferred it to be a larger amount, but $44 million will go a long way.

This is a very significant moment. It is a very significant moment in the life of this parliament and in the life of this debate. Last week, we saw the major parties dealing with this issue and, if I might say, competing on the basis of generosity—not on toughness but on generosity. That is, in my view, a sea change in the way in which we have gone about the immigration debate. It was a great moment for this parliament and a great moment for all those involved in this debate, including the minister. We are witnessing today the greatest humanitarian need since the Second World War. Fifty nine million people, according to the UNHCR, are displaced—the largest number since the Second World War. In Syria alone, we see 11 million people displaced, seven million internally and four million beyond the borders of Syria, a situation I personally saw when I visited the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, near the border with Syria, in April this year.

Knowing this, Labor have been very keen in the position that we have taken to make sure that we as a party and an opposition stand for Australia to make a generous offer to the world's affairs. That is why, at our ALP conference in July this year, we announced the transformational commitment to the UNHCR, if Labor were elected to government, of $450 million over three years and the doubling of our humanitarian intake over the course of 10 years. It is the single most generous offer of any potential Australian government to the state of the world's humanitarian affairs and we are very proud to have that position.

There is, of course, an the immediate crisis which needs to be addressed—and that is what we saw this parliament do, ultimately in a bipartisan way, last week. As I say, it was a great moment for this parliament and for our country. Given the state of the world today, not just in Syria but in places like Yemen and in places where there are old conflicts, such as Somalia; and given the state of affairs in northern Nigeria with Boko Haram—and there are many other places around the world where there are people displaced—we need to be playing our part as a nation. We need to be generous. Last week was a very proud week for this parliament. It was a great week in which to be a member of this place. I very much commend the government on the offer that it has made.

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