Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I support this motion and I applaud the ALP for moving it. At the same time, I condemn the confected expressions of concern for asylum seekers that I hear so often in this place from the Liberal and National parties and the Labor Party. I acknowledge that there are good people in those parties and in this chamber right now who personally have very strong views in support of asylum seekers. I also acknowledge that the ALP is to be applauded for supporting the medevac legislation, which, regrettably, was overturned with the change of government. But I'm going to say a few home truths here because we need to clear up the record.

Both the Liberal and National parties and the Labor Party support mandatory detention, offshore processing and tow backs. Both the Liberal and National parties and the Labor Party several weeks ago voted and spoke in support of the Migration Amendment (Clarifying International Obligations for Removal) Bill 2021. In fact, I was the only MP in the House of Representatives to speak against that bill, and there was no opportunity for a division. That bill legalises under Australian law the indefinite detention of noncitizens in Australia if their visa has been cancelled or expired and they can't be returned to their country of origin. So, in fact, in some circumstances the Labor Party supports indefinite detention.

These are all facts, and I think it's important that we understand that this is the case. I'm reaching out to both sides of the chamber—to the Liberal Party, the National Party and the Labor Party—and I'm saying to all three parties, 'You've got to lift your game and you've got to adopt a more humane and internationally lawful response to asylum seekers.' I note that neither the Liberal and National parties nor the Labor Party supported my Ending Indefinite and Arbitrary Immigration Detention Bill 2021. That bill provided that alternatives to immigration detention, which may take various forms depending on the particular circumstances of the individual, would be almost always used in preference to immigration detention. Under that bill, which received no support from any major party, immigration detention for noncitizens and refugees would have needed to be lawful, necessary, proportionate and for the shortest time possible. The provisions of that bill made mandatory detention illegal. The bill also clearly outlined the reasons, time frames, communication and services that would have to be available in immigration detention, and which would be independently monitored. So the government and the opposition were given the opportunity to support a bill that would have ended indefinite and arbitrary immigration detention, and that bill received no support from either.

My Refugee Protection Bill in 2019 also received no support from any major party. That bill provided for a sustainable, equitable and humane response to the protection and processing of asylum seekers and refugees in the Asia-Pacific region. A key component of that bill was the Asia-Pacific Asylum Seeker Solution, APASS, which was to be a regional framework initiated by the Australian government in partnership with other Asia-Pacific countries and overseen by the UNHCR—an alternative to our current regime of mandatory detention, tow backs, offshore processing and preparedness to indefinitely detain noncitizens who can't be returned to their country of origin.

I support the motion because of course we need to get the remaining people off Nauru and Manus Island in PNG. Of course we have to get the many people who are in immigration detention in Australia out of detention. The motion is sound. But we've got to stop these confected expressions of concern when, at the end of the day, Australia's bipartisan policy and its response to asylum seekers remain fundamentally immoral and illegal under international law. This country must adopt an alternative response to asylum seekers—one that is moral, one that is legal under international law and one that we can be proud of on the international stage. For now, we remain a pariah when it comes to our response to asylum seekers.

See this speech in context