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

No, it is a shared issue; I agree. My question is to Senator Coonan in her capacity representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Is the minister aware of reports today that the chair of Indonesia’s parliamentary foreign relations committee, Mr Theo Sambuaga, has said that Australia should pass changes to its immigration laws before the Prime Minister meets with the Indonesian President next week? Can the minister indicate whether Mr Sambuaga is speaking on behalf of the Indonesian government, and whether those views have been directly communicated to the Australian government? Isn’t it the case that the Prime Minister advised Indonesia that changes to Australia’s immigration laws would be passed before his meeting with the Mr Yudhoyono? Will that meeting still go ahead even if the Prime Minister is so comprehensively embarrassed by his failure to get his party’s support to deliver on his promise to Indonesia?