Linda Kirk (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of the motion put by Senator Bartlett. We are all aware that the motion has arisen out of the recent circumstances of the 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers who arrived just off Christmas Island, I think on Saturday. I understand that 83 of them are Sri Lankan asylum seekers and that there are two who are believed to be Indonesian nationals. The difficulty we have here today is that we do not have full details of the circumstances of these individuals. I understand that we, the Labor opposition, have sought a briefing from the government on the specific circumstances of this group of asylum seekers and that this is going to take place later this afternoon; but, as it stands, there is an absence of information that would enable us to fully get our heads around what has occurred. For my part, I am relying on media reports that I have gathered on this matter over the last few days, and it is on that basis that I address my remarks to the chamber today, but it is important to realise that until we are made fully aware of the circumstances—exactly who these people are, where they are from and their individual circumstances—the extent of our knowledge of these individuals is that all of them are adult men.

We are pretty much relying on what has been made available by the government and put into the public domain. When this happens it makes many of us, including me, somewhat nervous because we know that this government has what can only be described as ‘form’ in this area. When the issues of refugees and asylum seekers have been publicly debated, more often than not we have seen nothing from the government but deception and misinformation. It is for this reason that I am hesitant to make remarks until we are made fully aware of the facts—and often the facts are very difficult to garner when we are talking about asylum seeker matters vis-a-vis the Howard government.

All of us would remember the shameful ‘children overboard’ affair when the then Minister for Defence produced photographs in the middle of an election campaign and stated that they depicted children who had been thrown into the water by their parents. At the time many people believed that had occurred, but it was subsequently shown, as a consequence of the long and comprehensive Senate inquiry into the matter, not to have happened. So you can see why one is always somewhat suspicious of information that comes from the Howard government when the subject matter is asylum seekers and refugees. We have to examine these issues as they arise and remind ourselves that there is often little credibility in the public statements that flow from this government in relation to these matters. It is probably best to err on the side of caution and take what is said with a grain of salt rather than relying on the statements that are made.

There are some matters that Labor is very clear on when it comes to asylum seekers, and particularly those who have been trafficked by people smugglers. Labor, contrary to what Senator Fifield said, is adamant that people smugglers be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Those people who take advantage of asylum seekers in order to make a profit, whom we know as people smugglers, really are disgraceful individuals and Labor is absolutely clear that it will not give these people a second chance to smuggle people into this country. We are absolutely clear that these people must be punished and prevented from acting in the same way again. The other thing we are absolutely clear about is that we will not see refugees returned to a country where they face persecution. As you know, this is clearly contrary to the refugee convention. (Time expired)