Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

My question is actually directed to Senator Vanstone, the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, on the basis that she is one of the few ministers left. Can the minister finally advise the Senate which of the public pronouncements by the Prime Minister and herself on the rationale for the new migration laws is the current government position? Does the Prime Minister’s statement of 2001—‘We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come’—still apply, or does the minister’s announcement this morning on radio that Indonesia is a very important partner in decisions about Australia’s border protection policy supersede the PM’s stance? Can the minister explain why we have gone from a position of the Australian government determining who comes to this country to a position of now accepting Indonesia as a partner in these decisions?