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

Making emotive and loaded statements is no replacement for policy and dealing with complex problems. All this talk about queuejumpers and laying out the red carpet is a nonsense. What the asylum seekers now on the Oceanic Viking sought to do was to be brought to Australia. They asked to be brought to Australia. We said ‘No, they would be taken to Indonesia and they would be disembarked in Indonesia and treated according to international law and be assessed by the UNHCR.’ I assume the opposition is not suggesting now that we should have brought them direct to Christmas Island, although their spokesperson has suggested special treatment. The alternatives were to bring them to Australia or take them to Indonesia. If your criticism is that we should have brought them to Australia, say so. But I suspect you would support the decision that we took to take them to Indonesia.