Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer her to death threats against guards at the Darwin and Inverbrackie detention centres, a homemade bomb found at the Villawood detention centre and a full-scale riot at the Christmas Island detention centre—which had to be retaken by force. Given that there are now three critical incidents a day in a system in crisis, will the government join the coalition in supporting a full inquiry by this parliament into this system in crisis?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. What I would say to the Leader of the Opposition is that I am well aware that he and his spokesperson, the shadow minister, have been out playing politics on this. We all know, of course, that they are not interested in the policy, because, if they were interested in the policy, presumably they would be supporting an inquiry that looked at not only detention now but also detention under the Howard government and that looked at, for example, the breakout from Woomera. Do we remember that? Perhaps it could look at the incarceration of an Australian, Cornelia Rau. Do we remember that? Perhaps it could even traverse the children overboard affair and the deliberate misleading of the Australian people at an election.

As the Leader of the Opposition well knows, the government has been very transparent about circumstances in detention centres. What I would say to the Leader of the Opposition is: before he throws around words, he ought to acknowledge, for example, that incidents are of course catalogued and they can range from something like a very simple health complaint by an asylum seeker through to something more serious.

In relation to incidents in detention centres, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has ordered inquiries. They are publicly known, and the opposition has the opportunity in Senate estimates to ask any questions that it genuinely has on the policy. But what I would say to the Leader of the Opposition is that at some point he has to work out whether he is only interested in the politics of this or whether he is interested in the policy. If he is genuinely interested in the policy, he may want to let us know. But, as we know from characterisations by senior members of his own frontbench, policy is not his strong suit.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask a supplementary question. Prime Minister, given your answer, will you mind confirming to the House that the total number of boat people in detention in November 2007 was just six? Would you also mind confirming to the House that the total number of boat people who have arrived in the first three months of this year is almost three times the total number that arrived in the last six years of the Howard government?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The supplementary question must relate to the substance of the original question. That certainly does not, and it quite clearly was out of order.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It is probably no more out of order than the original question and response. On that basis I will allow the supplementary, but I would remind members that there is far too much debate in both questions and answers—even though debate is allowed in answers.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the Leader of the Opposition is interested in fact then, yes, I can confirm that an Australian was incarcerated in a detention centre under the Howard government; yes, I can confirm that the then minister for immigration referred to a child as 'it' under the Howard government; yes, I can confirm that there was a mass breakout from Woomera under the Howard government; and, yes, I can confirm that this government has taken steps to address the difficulties we saw in detention under the Howard government—most particularly, difficulties relating to the treatment of women and children.