Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s annual report 2008-09, which states that the processing times for offshore refugees ‘continued within the service standard of 75 per cent of applications finalised within 52 weeks’. Will the Prime Minister confirm that the government does not normally provide offshore processing for asylum seekers within the timeframes the government has offered to those on board the Oceanic Viking?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question and I thank her for reading the department’s annual report. Can I say that when it comes to the processing of individuals—be it in Indonesia, Australia or anywhere else in the world—two matters are relevant. One is whether they have already been processed by the UNHCR for the determination of their refugee status, and that can be a long or a shorter process depending on the complexity of the case; and, two, whether they have already been processed and, so determined, what length of time then ensues in terms of identifying a resettlement country. They are the two processes which apply. In the case of this particular vessel, you will have a mix of individuals, some of whom have already been processed by the UNHCR previously in Indonesia, others of whom have not. In all these circumstances, therefore, the individual processing time will vary depending upon the case. They are the two categories of case we are dealing with and we are doing so in conformity with government practices, as outlined in the letter by the secretary of the immigration department.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: as the Prime Minister clearly has not read the report, I seek to table the relevant extract which shows that the processing time is within 52 weeks.

Leave is not granted.