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

If you had asked, I would have supplied you with it myself. As I made very clear, there is no special deal. What we have is a situation where, following a rescue at sea in the Indonesian search and rescue zone, under international law we were required to disembark the passengers at the nearest port. On advice from the Indonesian government we took them to the port at Bintan , where we sought to disembark the passengers. We, in agreement with the Indonesian government, sought to have the people disembark from the boat, go into detention and then access UNHCR processes.

Initially the passengers wanted to go to Australia. They insisted that they go to Australia. We refused their request to go to Australia. We said they would disembark in Indonesia under the agreement entered into with the Indonesian government. They resisted the request for them to disembark, but we insisted that they do. Eventually they did disembark from the vessel, and they have gone into the Indonesian detention centre. What we have done is have an agreement with the Indonesian government as to how they will be processed and the time frame around which they will be processed. That agreement between the two governments was put in writing and has been public for more than a week now. It is quite clear what the arrangements are. We have been quite open about what the arrangements are. There is no special deal with those seeking asylum. No changes were made to the arrangements entered into between us and the Indonesian government in response to their requests. They will be processed according to normal processes as part of the agreement between the two governments.