Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I present the instrument of designation of the Republic of Nauru as a regional processing country under subsection 198AB(1) of the Migration Act 1958, together with related documents, in accordance with section 198AC of the Migration Act 1958. I move:

That, in accordance with section 198AB of the Migration Act 1958, the House approve the instrument of designation of the Republic of Nauru as a regional processing country.

At the last election, our Prime Minister spoke of the need to be strong on borders without being weak on humanity. Regional processing is about both. For almost every day that I have been in my role, I have had to deal with the detail of protecting our borders and making sure that our country is meeting its obligations to the world's displaced and persecuted people, and I can say with absolute confidence, from the bottom of my heart, that regional processing is integral to us achieving both of these things.

Regional processing is integral to us being strong on borders because it breaks the business model of people smugglers who seek to market an outcome amongst some of the world's most vulnerable people. In doing so, it ultimately saves the lives, thousands of lives, of vulnerable people who would otherwise be exploited and tricked onto leaky boats to attempt a dangerous voyage at sea. That's something that also risks the lives of Defence and Border Force officers who have to deal with the often incredibly tragic consequences of these ventures.

I appreciate that there are people in this place who think very differently about this issue, but I would point out that regional processing has been settled policy on both sides of politics for over a decade, for precisely the issues that I have described. Regional processing was a policy formulation that was carefully formed, through a robust and very well done policy process. It was recommended in a report led by the former Chief of the Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, along with Professor Michael L'Estrange, the then director of the National Security College at ANU, and refugee expert Paris Aristotle. That panel was charged with making recommendations on how best to prevent asylum seekers from travelling to Australia by boat. The principal recommendation of the work of those three eminent people was the introduction of legislation to 'support the transfer of people to regional processing arrangements,' including in Nauru, 'as a matter of urgency'. They understood, as the Labor government does, that this is a regional problem that can only be solved in partnership with our neighbours and our friends around our region, and that is why today I'm recommending to the parliament to designate one of those friends and neighbours as a regional processing centre.

The person who first put in place the regional processing declaration for Nauru was Chris Bowen, the member for McMahon, when he was minister at the time. He said, during that initial debate in 2012:

We are determined to expose the people smugglers' business model for what is: a ruthless con. There is no visa awaiting boat arrivals, no speedy outcome and no special treatment.

Those words were true in 2012 and they are true now.

The government has been very transparent in its position on regional processing. We implemented this policy when we were in government previously. We remained firmly committed to it while we were in opposition, and we went to the election on it. That is because, fundamentally, regional processing breaks the business model for people smugglers. It takes away the product that they are trying to sell and, in doing so, it stops vulnerable people risking their lives on dangerous voyages on leaky boats. It stops death at sea. It is absolutely as simple as that. It is tough. It sends a message that persons who attempt to take a journey by boat will not settle in Australia. It is part of a wider framework in Operation Sovereign Borders that means persons trying to enter Australia without a valid visa will be returned to their port or country of origin.

I can say this absolutely clearly to the parliament today, as I will say outside of it: our commitment to Operation Sovereign Borders is absolutely resolute. The best evidence of that is that every person who has tried to come to Australia by boat since our government has been elected and since I have been Minister for Home Affairs has been returned to their port of departure. Our government is determined and focused in its conduct of Operation Sovereign Borders, in a way that avoids politicisation of this issue. And can I say that the style of politics that has been played around this matter for so many years in this country has been fundamentally detrimental—detrimental to the national security conversation, detrimental to the border security conversation and certainly detrimental to the discussion about how we as a country can and should do more to help the world's persecuted people.

It is important for us to redesignate Nauru to enable us to create space to do some very important things to assist on the humanitarian front. Let me say a few brief things about the legal framework in which I'm making this recommendation to the parliament. The power is conferred on me by subsection 198AB(1) to designate that a country is a regional processing country, and that is contained in part 2, division 8, subdivision B of the act. Subsection 198AB(2) provides that the only condition for the exercise of power conferred on me by section 198AB(1) is that I think that it is in the national interest to designate the country to be a regional processing country. Subsection 198AB(3) provides that in considering the national interest for the purposes of section 198AB(2) I must have regard to whether or not the country has given Australia any assurances to the effect that the country would not return a person to another country where they would be at risk and that the regional processing country allows assessment of that person to be a refugee.

Three key documents have facilitated my consideration regarding Nauru as a regional processing country. The first of those is a memorandum of understanding that was signed between the Republic of Nauru and Australia on the enduring regional processing capability in the Republic of Nauru. That was signed by the former minister, who sits opposite me here in the chamber, on 24 September 2021. The second document is a statement of arrangements that are in place and that will be put in place for the management of persons. And the third is advice received from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who has been consulted regarding the designation.

I spoke about the requirements under the Migration Act for me to determine that it is in the national interest for a country to be redesignated as a regional processing country, and I want to talk the parliament through the five factors I considered when making that decision. The first is that the ongoing operation of regional processing arrangements will deter people smugglers from exploiting and encouraging vulnerable persons to risk their lives at sea. I note that the need to prevent loss of life at sea was a primary object of the subdivision at section 198AA. And, as I stated earlier, regional processing breaks the people smugglers' model in order to help us protect those people and our borders.

The second is that regional processing supports the broader objectives of Operation Sovereign Borders, which further deters such ventures by ensuring that persons will not settle permanently in Australia. I note that another primary objective of the subdivision I've referred to is that persons should be able to be taken to any country where their claims can be properly assessed.

The third factor is that regional cooperation is the only manner in which the challenges of irregular migration can be addressed, and I want to note to the parliament that through the Bali process we continue to try to manage what is a very significant global issue of transnational people-smuggling and irregular movement. We have a meeting of the Bali process coming up very shortly.

The fourth is that Nauru has been designated as a regional processing country for the past decade and has for a number of years accepted transfers under the Sovereign Borders framework, with significant infrastructure and administrative processes that have been put in place to do that properly. I note that in the past there have been real issues and concerns with the provision of services on Nauru, but I also note that over that preceding 10-year period there has been a significant uplift in these services, particularly those that relate to the protection of the health and wellbeing of persons on Nauru—in particular, the efforts the parliament has made to ensure that things like medical evacuation, clinical service provision and appropriate escalation arrangements are in place. This means that service provision is very different now than it has been in the past.

In addition, it's also important to note that persons on Nauru are not in any form of detention. So, where an individual has circumstances that require examination and assistance, I've also made it clear that we have the highest expectations of the care of those people and that there are appropriate channels for advocates and others to engage if there are concerns around individuals.

Finally, the permanent resettlement of many persons from Nauru to the United States, Canada and now New Zealand demonstrates the ability of regional processing arrangements to ensure durable, permanent pathways for resettlement, while also ensuring that people smugglers are denied their objective, which is simply to make money by marketing Australia as a destination, in an incredibly evil trade that preys on the most vulnerable people in the world. These considerations are in addition to the requirement under subsection 198AB(3) that Nauru has provided assurances that it will not return people to a country where their life or freedom are at risk, and an additional assurance in the memorandum of understanding with Nauru.

In conclusion, let me just put this in a little bit of context. When the Prime Minister has spoken, in the period that he was Leader of the Opposition and now as Prime Minister, about the need to be strong on borders without being weak in humanity, he has also talked about the need to respond pragmatically to policies that work. There are lots of different people who bring different values to this conversation. I think it's hard to deny that this policy works. This issue, like so many issues of the past two decades, has been subject to a kind of ruthless politicisation that, as I've said, I think has been extremely unhelpful to the proper resolution of this debate. But we have arrived at it and it does include regional processing. These issues are not best dealt with in an environment of partisanship and posturing. They are complex and they are difficult, and if anyone in the debate is arguing that there is a simple, easy solution to this they are absolutely wrong.

The solutions that we have found—the ones that work—carry tremendous responsibility and gravity. But ultimately there is a higher purpose here in trying to stop people dying at sea, something we saw far too much of in the period between 2000 and 2013. The preservation of life, while ensuring persons are resettled appropriately, is at the core of our commitment to regional processing and Operation Sovereign Borders. I am determined every day to pursue those objectives, where required, in turning back boats and returning persons to their country of departure. The continuation of regional processing is essential to fighting the people-smuggling trade, and its deterrence value means that we don't enable people smugglers to exploit people so they undertake this dangerous venture.

We have to separate the politics of the past from this issue. This problem has vexed this parliament for decades. It is time to move on. There is a clear settlement on this matter. It includes regional processing, and it includes Nauru amongst the regional processing countries that this parliament declares. I'd really encourage members of the parliament, both here and in the other place today, to ensure that they do vote to support this redesignation.

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