Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to Senator Evans for the question. My understanding of this matter is that the proposed meeting between the Prime Minister and the President will take place. There has certainly been nothing conveyed to say that the meeting won’t take place. As far as the legislation is concerned, what the Prime Minister has said—and it is well known; it is well and truly a matter for public comment—is that he is working through the issues, as is my colleague Senator Vanstone, with a number of our colleagues who have concerns.

This is the democratic process, and it is something that we in fact not only welcome but subscribe to. Quite frankly, I would not have thought that whether or not the legislation to give effect to the changes in the migration laws is passed is the issue. The issue is that we understand, as we have said over the last couple of days, that the legislation is being passed having some regard to the views of Indonesia simply because of the role it plays in our border protection arrangements and in no way because we would change our law for any reasons other than for our own policy purposes, which is precisely the way in which it has been enunciated over the past few days by Senator Vanstone and others: it is all about our border protection.

My understanding is that the meeting will take place. I would not see the passage of the legislation as conditional upon the meeting taking place. I would have thought the fact that these discussions will still take place is simply an indication that Australia and Indonesia, while we have our respective moments as nations, are getting on with doing important work in the region. We are very conscious, from Australia’s perspective, of keeping our borders secure.