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

I am very pleased to know that suddenly the Liberal Party are interested in the care of people in detention. This is a welcome development. I welcome it and I also welcome concern for children in detention. It has not been reflected in your contributions to debates this week, but I do welcome it. It is true that in 2005 John Howard was forced to modify his policies in relation to children in detention. Under pressure from some Liberal backbenchers, who deserve great credit for it, he moved away from the detention of children.

The government have made it absolutely clear that we do not support the detention of children, so we have made measures to try and ensure that they are cared for properly and that we run policies and values in detention that better reflect Australian values. We would encourage all our neighbours to do similarly.