Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, the Prime Minister, you and the Deputy Prime Minister all recently travelled to the United States of America to participate in the US led multilateral program to resettle refugees from central America currently living in Costa Rica. It was a very high profile trip and a notable announcement, and you got to spend time with the President of the United States, no doubt. Only this week during Senate estimates representatives from your very own department confirmed that it was the lead agency in the refugee deal and it was 'very involved' in the process, to quote them. Yet when it came to the details of the refugee deal, your department was unable to answer a single question on the basics of the agreement between the Australian government and the United States government.

Minister, given your department was not able to answer basic questions, can you please shed light on the following. What was your personal involvement and role in the development of the refugee deal? When did the negotiations start for this agreement? When was the deal actually reached by the Australian government with the American government? When will refugees start to arrive in Australia? By when will they all have arrived? The department said there will be a small number of refugees, but precisely how many refugees will arrive in Australia? When did the department brief you on the deal? How long will the deal actually last? Tell us about the duration of the deal. What will be the cost to the Australian taxpayer? Will this impact on the overall intake, or is it included in the 18,750 commitment you re-announced in the United States of America? Do you have any other pay-to-play deals in the offing? Minister, unlike the department, do you know the answers to these questions and will you give them today?

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