Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I note the statement by Senator Colbeck in opening the debate to take note of answers. He referred to a Laurel and Hardy quote, ‘What a fine mess you’ve gotten us into,’ as somehow being justification for the opposition’s position in this matter, meaning what a mess the government got the country into by sending the Oceanic Viking to pick up these people from a vessel which was in distress. Let me remind the Senate that it was only on the 16 October that the Australian authorities received a distress call from this vessel which was passed onto the relevant authorities within the Australian government, including Border Protection Command and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. It was determined that the vessel was in international waters and within the Indonesian search and rescue region. Early on the morning of 17 October, the next day, the information was passed to the Indonesian authorities who confirmed they would be coordinating the search and rescue of the vessel, but later that morning they advised that no vessels were available to respond and there were no responses to a general call for assistance.

What was the Australian government to do? What the Australian government did was to send HMAS Armadale to the scene and the Oceanic Viking was directed to respond. Was that wrong? Was Senator Colbeck suggesting we were getting the Australian people into a mess when we responded to a call to assist a vessel? It was the Indonesians who were obliged under safety of life at sea conventions to respond, but they indicated that they could not. So was it wrong for the Australian government to go and potentially save a number of people from death at sea? Is that the wrong that Senator Colbeck suggests that the Australian government performed? Was the mess that we got ourselves into in picking up the people?

Yes, the vessel is detained because the Australian government said that we picked these people up in Indonesian waters and we would be discharging them into Indonesia. We said we would not be taking them to an Australian port to discharge them. If the criticism is that we got the Australian people into a mess, it is because (a) we were not bringing the people back to Australia and (b) we were not content to allow that vessel to sink and those people, including women and children, to drown because no-one else was going to pick them up. If that is the test that the opposition put to the Australian people, frankly they should be ashamed of themselves. What they are saying is that the government should have let those people drown. I reject that and this government rejects that. The Australian people are a much more generous people than this opposition gives them credit for. The Australian people would expect the Australian government to do what it could to save people on the high seas who have indicated distress. The problem is that the people on board are now saying, ‘We want to go to Australia,’ and the Australian government is saying, ‘You will get off in Indonesia’. Therefore there is a stand-off. What would we do? The Indonesians are insisting that those people need to get off the boat of their own volition. The Australian government is pursuing that path and having some success.

But what is this all about? It is all about the parlous position of the opposition in the opinion polls. We have seen another Newspoll, which seems to be inconsistent with other polls, indicating there might have been some support for the opposition arising possibly from this issue. Given the parlous position that the opposition are in and the way that they are tearing themselves to shreds—and you have only to have watched Four Corners last Monday night to see it—they are seeking to grab onto something to indicate to the Australian people that they are relevant. Frankly, this issue will disappear, as have a number of others, and the opposition will have to justify their position and go to the next election with some real policies. How long did it take for Mr Turnbull to come out and talk about a return to temporary protection visas? It took about two weeks of this particular issue running and the pressure of last week’s Four Corners program which the opposition knew was coming. This is just another issue in trying to hold together the coalition at a time when they are falling apart. (Time expired)