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

I have made the situation very clear to the Senate as to what has occurred. When the government did the right thing and sought to rescue at sea the people who are now on the Oceanic Viking, who were effectively likely to drown as their boat became unseaworthy, we did so at the request of the Indonesian government. As part of our international legal obligations we then transported those people to Indonesia. It is true to say that those people were disappointed that they were not taken to Australia, and they sought to convince us to take them to Australia. We rejected that demand and advised them that they would be disembarked in Indonesia. As part of that process we advised them of how they would be processed when they disembarked. What we have been very open about is how that process, by way of the agreement with the Indonesian government, will occur. That is what will occur. There is no negotiation occurring. (Time expired)