George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That rather contemptible speech by Senator Hurley shows how low the Labor Party has gone in this debate about 457 visas. And it is of a piece—as we heard from Senator Vanstone in her answer to Senator Johnston’s question—with the disgusting and dishonest remarks that were made at a doorstop interview this morning by Mr Tony Burke, the Labor Party’s shadow minister for immigration. Remember that Thursday two days hence is the fifth anniversary of the tragedy of SIEVX. On 19 October 2001, a refugee boat sank in international waters south of Java. It contained 397 passengers, of whom 352 were drowned, many of them children. It was one of the saddest episodes in this part of the world in recent history. This is what Mr Tony Burke had to say about it at a doorstop interview this morning: ‘The problem for me with temporary protection visas … is that in terms of having an impact on people-smuggling it actually works the opposite way.’