Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Four hundred and eighteen people have been resettled from Manus and Nauru to the United States, and I should note that, as you would also know, Mr Speaker, and as we have discussed, transferees are not—

Honourable members interjecting—

I'll come to the issue you've raised, but transferees are not in detention on Nauru. They are living freely in the community, as Nauruans are. You ask a question about New Zealand. The advice to government I have from our agencies—I've seen this advice and I've quizzed our officials on this advice—is that people smugglers are marketing New Zealand as a destination, as a back door to Australia. You asked me what would need to happen. We've introduced legislation into this place to prevent that backdoor movement of people from New Zealand into Australia. That legislation is not supported by those opposite, and we would ask them to consider that. The legislation has been sitting on the Senate Notice Paper, up in the other place, since 2016. It passed this chamber. It did not pass this chamber with the support of the Labor Party or the crossbench. But, until that back door is shut, these issues only run the risk of inviting more people to risk their lives at sea and of us having to stop the boats. We're not going to start them again; only the Labor Party will do that. (Time expired)

See this speech in context