Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of the answers of Minister Vanstone. I will commence by commenting on some of the remarks of Senator Kirk a moment ago. There is a lot of presupposition that people who arrive illegally and are processed offshore are not going to be catered for. That is just not true. This is a government that will not stand by and allow people not to be cared and catered for in a humane and dignified way. I think that needs to be clearly stated and placed on the record. We are talking about border security as well as the matters of the report handed down by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee yesterday. We must understand that intelligence has been presented to this government that there are more people staging a process to move to Australia. We have to protect our borders in every possible way we can and also the lives of those who want to endanger themselves in coming to this country by means regarded as very substandard. I think it is very responsible of this government to create a deterrent effect to prevent people embarking on the most dangerous of voyages that they possibly could, endangering the lives of women and children, not to mention the male adults that would accompany them.

As indicated earlier today, the Senate committee report handed down yesterday is very comprehensive. It was only released yesterday, and I think it takes some time for anyone, let alone a government, to consider all the points in detail. This is a government that does that. It considers many things in detail. It examines each and every point in the report and will, where necessary, respond. I think that is the most responsible attitude that any government or any administration can take.

I also think it is important to note that the department itself has undergone tremendous transformation under the guidance of Mr Andrew Metcalfe. This department is one that has grown, developed, improved and responded to ever-changing scenery, an ever-changing feast of activities and an ever-changing host of problems that are presented to it. I think it is commendable that we have a department in a reformation process and constantly adjusting, as many departments need to do.

I think we need to be cognisant of some of the aspects of the report that were handed down yesterday, and my colleague Senator Fierravanti-Wells has indicated some of these. It is important to emphasise that the committee has suggested that its work was significantly hampered by the absence or limited availability of critical information and by documentation that provided only a minimalist framework for the proposed system. With that background, we need to understand that this report is not overly comprehensive in some areas. This report goes some way to guide the government, but it is not a complete document in itself; it is for guidance. Also, we need to understand that the report covered details of accommodation, health care and education arrangements for processing asylum claims, together with access to legal assistance and opportunities for monitoring by the Commonwealth Ombudsman.