Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

None of us can underestimate the scale of the security and humanitarian disaster now afflicting the people of Syria. At least 200,000 people have been killed. At least one million people have been injured. Perhaps seven million people have been internally displaced. Probably about four million people are stranded beyond Syria's borders. This is a humanitarian catastrophe—an absolute humanitarian catastrophe. Obviously, the people of Syria are currently caught between the mass executions of the Daesh death cult on the one hand and the chemical weapons of the Assad regime on the other. This is a diabolical situation for those people to be in. Of course, in the last few days the world's attention has been riveted by the heart-rending photograph of that young Syrian boy drowned on a beach in Turkey.

The world must act. Australia must act. Australia must play our part in responding to this crisis. As members of this House would know, the immigration minister, Mr Dutton, is in Europe today talking to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, talking to the International Organization for Migration and talking to our allies and partners about what more Australia can do to respond. We have already done much. In the last year we have taken some 4½ thousand refugees from Syria and Iraq. It is 30 per cent of our humanitarian and refugee intake. In the last year we have contributed some $100 million to humanitarian assistance in the Middle East. Since 2011, we have contributed some $155 million to humanitarian assistance in Syria. It is a lot, but we can and must do more because when the world is in trouble Australia responds. Australia is a good global citizen. In fact, we are an exemplary global citizen and we will act in character here, as we always do.

I can inform the House that it is the government's firm intention to take a significant number of people from Syria this year. We will give people refuge—that is the firm intention of this government. The women and children in camps, in particular the women and children from persecuted minorities in camps, deserve a compassionate response from Australia, and that is exactly what they will get from this government. And there will be more money because we must assist the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to do its job as well as can be done in these very difficult circumstances.

I will have more to say, on behalf of the government, after we have received the report from Minister Dutton overnight. We can do this responsibly. Because of the changes on our own borders over the last year or so, it is in fact the Australian government which is now in charge of those who come to us under our refugee and humanitarian program. I can also inform the House that, later in this week, it is my intention to meet with community representatives here in Australia, particularly the representatives of the communities now suffering in Syria and in the Middle East. I want to talk to them about what we can do to work with them to ensure that those coming to Australia from the conflict in Syria are well received and, if necessary, well integrated into the Australian community once they arrive.

This government has already provided a very strong security response to the problems in the Middle East, and that response will become stronger in coming days. We have already provided a strong humanitarian response to the problems in the Middle East, and that response will be stronger within coming days. It is obvious to all members of this House, and it would be self-evident to Australians, that we cannot save the world single-handedly, but we will always do what we can to help. That is in our character as a nation—to do what we can to help. We will act to build a better world. We always have; we always will. We will act to lend a helping hand not just here but wherever we humanly can.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All of us in this place have watched the refugee crisis unfolding in the Middle East, and indeed in Europe, with growing concern. The violent evil being perpetrated in the Middle East is driving the largest movement of displaced people since the Second World War. This is a humanitarian crisis gripping our global community and the consequences for desperate people in dreadful circumstances have played out in front of the world's watching eyes. Much has been said and written about the photo—which moved so many of us here in Australia—of that Turkish police officer carrying the body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi up off that Turkish beach. As a father, it shook me to my core. I cannot imagine, and I hope never to know, the toll that such a loss would take upon a person's soul. But that image is, after all, merely a snapshot of the human tragedy afflicting literally tens of thousands of desperate people.

It is only a brief glimpse of a nightmare that so many other parents are living through, right now. Parents, children, husbands and wives will carry the scars of this moment for the rest of their lives. If we can find it in ourselves to confront this reality, to accept the scope and scale of the challenge before us, surely we can agree that words of sympathy are not enough. Surely we can see that our compassion demands action.

As I announced earlier today, I am asking the Prime Minister to convene a bipartisan emergency meeting of state leaders, community and religious representatives to work towards Australia making an offer of 10,000 additional places for refugees displaced by the crisis in Syria. This one-off additional increase in the humanitarian program would come on top of Australia's existing intake. In addition, we seek the government to immediately contribute an extra $100 million towards humanitarian relief efforts in response to the Syrian crisis. This would help provide essential assistance to the most vulnerable people affected by the crisis, including millions of people living in refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon on and Jordan.

I believe that at a moment such as this Australians expect their parliament to show leadership, decency and compassion. Europe is dealing with these issues and Australia has a contribution to make too. Labor believes that Australia should play its role in an international response to relieve the suffering and the pressure on Syria's neighbouring countries and the people within them. Australia has been here in not dissimilar circumstances, in the past. Back in 1976 and 1977 Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser stood up, in terms of the tragedy and the exodus from Vietnam. Prime Minister Bob Hawke offered safe haven to Chinese students studying, here, following the Tiananmen Square massacre and Prime Minister John Howard, when dealing with the plight of the Kosovars, made a decision to go above and beyond.

Let us fulfil this tradition. It is now the turn of members of this parliament to step up, to go above and beyond. I note that many members of the government and, indeed, the cabinet have indicated their instinctive support for such a move. We welcome this because bipartisanship is important here too. Let our determination for Australia to be better and do more be one shared by our entire parliament and our whole nation. Let us speak with one voice to the world. Let us live up to the standard that we have always set for ourselves, as the land of the second chance and the home of the fair go for all.