Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Fierravanti-Wells, I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes the continued presence of pull factors as part of the problem Australia faces on the issue of illegal immigration;

(b)

notes and condemns the Government’s handling of the recent situation aboard the Oceanic Viking;

(c)

notes the special deal that was offered to those asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking was an inducement to disembark the ship; and

(d)

notes that the Rudd Labor Government has yet to come up with an effective solution to this situation.

I congratulate Senator Fierravanti-Wells on her motion today relating to the Labor government’s failure to maintain control of Australia’s borders. Based on the rhetoric that the government has been spinning over the last few months, a number of rhetorical questions come to mind. The first is when is a pull factor not a pull factor? Of course, the answer can only be when it is created by the Rudd Labor government. The second question that comes to mind is, to quote Julia Gillard, when is another boat arrival not another policy failure? Again, when the boat arrives under the Rudd government’s watch. And the final question which comes to mind is this: when is a special deal not a special deal? Again, it can only be when it is negotiated by those opposite, the Rudd Labor government.

I will quote our control freak Prime Minister, who claims that he has no knowledge of this special deal. This is what he said to the parliament: ‘No, I didn’t know. It was handled by some of my staff in the special cabinet subcommittee.’ So we have a special cabinet subcommittee that is doing special deals for asylum seekers and the Prime Minister of Australia knows nothing about these special deals. The bad news for the Prime Minister is this: Mr Rudd, your staff have been negotiating a special deal—in fact, it is a very special deal for these asylum seekers—and it has been presented to them on behalf of the Australian government. This is the deal—a message to the 78 passengers on the Oceanic Viking from the Australian government: the government guarantees that mandated refugees will be resettled. This is where the special deal kicks in. If you are already found to be a refugee, we will settle you within four to six weeks of getting off the Oceanic Viking. If you have already registered with the UNHCR but you have not yet been found to be a refugee, we will resettle you within 12 weeks when you are found to be one. It then gets better. If you have not registered, we will actually help you to register and then you get the same deal. You can be in another country within 12 weeks.

But wait! Under this Rudd Labor special deal there is more. You asylum seekers have asked us some questions, so we are going to set out the answers for you. You have asked, ‘Could I have English classes while my case is being processed?’ The answer to that is, ‘Yes, we will provide you with that.’ You have asked, ‘Is it possible for me to make contact with my family?’ The answer is: ‘Yes, we will arrange that for you. You can even have assistance with your refugee applications.’

Why do we on this side of the chamber say that that is a special deal? It is for this reason: because no other asylum seeker currently in Indonesia who was intercepted on Australia’s behalf—and some of them, including women and children who have been there for six, seven, eight months or more, have yet to be looked at by the UNHCR—is getting the promise of being settled in Australia within 12 weeks. They are not receiving daily visits from Australian officials who are there to help them determine their cases.

There are further comments. Let us now look at the comments coming from the detainees at the Tanjung Penang detention centre. This is what they have been quoted as saying today:

We’ve been here seven months, and some of the boys have only now been registered … and half of the people have not been interviewed, but in less than one week—

the Oceanic Viking Sri Lankans—

have been interviewed and registration is going on.

Despite the Prime Minister’s denials, and despite the denials of the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, that a special deal has been offered to the asylum seekers on the Oceanic Viking, that is a special deal—there are no two ways about it.

Mr Rudd continues to say, though, that there is no special deal, as did his minister in question time today. The minister is from Western Australia and he clearly forgot to read the front page of the West Australian today, because that is what it said. Minister, whilst you may not think that there has been a special deal done, the 247 Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard a boat in the Indonesian port of Merak do. And this is what they are asking for. They are now pleading with the Rudd government for their own special deal to bring them to Australia. Maybe this time, Mr Rudd, your staff can throw in lifetime membership of the ALP as part of the next deal that is struck.

The Labor Party’s claim that there is no causal link between its relaxation of the coalition’s tough border protection policies in August 2008 and the increase in the number of unlawful arrivals in Australian waters becomes more absurd as each day goes by. Fifty-one smuggler boats carrying over 2,200 people have now arrived in Australian waters since Prime Minister Rudd started unravelling the coalition’s strong border protection measures. But Mr Rudd would tell you that this is the effect of Labor’s tough policy. So, Australia, let us give the Labor Party and Mr Rudd a big clap on the back for the success of their border protection policy. What an absolute joke! If that is a policy success, God help Australia when those opposite have a policy failure.

I again remind senators that this is the Prime Minister who, when in opposition, put on the Hansard record when referring to national security, ‘It depends on concrete measures taken … so that this nation is truly secure, not simply projected to be secure through the political rhetoric of … government.’ The fact that 51 boats have now arrived in Australia since August 2008 shows that Kevin Rudd stands condemned for his actions in relation to Australia’s border security. But, worse than that, those actions show complete contempt for those people who seek to come to Australia through the lawful channels. Our Prime Minister, by his policy decisions, is discouraging people to enter Australia lawfully through recognised migration channels.

There are hundreds of thousands of people who are currently in United Nations refugee camps. They have gone down the right path by seeking proper application and have gone through medical tests and screenings in order to seek lawful entry into this country, and Mr Rudd treats them with utter contempt. He basically says to them: ‘Thanks a lot for doing the right thing but, sorry, the Labor government in Australia cannot assist you because we have abrogated Australia’s lawful right to determine who comes into this country to the people smugglers. Bad luck to you. We have no room left.’ That is a disgrace. It is a disgrace on the part of the Labor Party that a sovereign government could hand over to people smugglers the right to determine who comes to this country and upon what terms.

But Mr Rudd’s loss of control of our borders is not his only failure. What about Mr Rudd’s single-handed destruction of Australia’s relationship with Indonesia? We need to set the scene here. We have to remember that this is the Mr Rudd who struts the world stage with delusions of self-importance and grandiosity. This is the same Mr Rudd who holds himself out to the people of Australia as being the consummate Asia-Pacific diplomat. One can only then say how humiliating, how mortifying and how undignifying it must be for Mr Rudd with the last-minute cancellation of the Indonesian President’s visit to Australia. We all know that, in the diplomatic world where Mr Rudd likes to live, this is a complete slap in the face. It is an extraordinary event for an Indonesian president, having made a commitment to come to Australia to speak to our parliament, to then cancel the visit.

We all saw via television the body language between Mr Rudd and the Indonesian President at the APEC summit. Our relations with Indonesia are clearly very strained, and they are very strained because of Mr Rudd’s colossal failure of policy and his failure to effectively manage our relationship with our largest and closest neighbour. And this is what Mr Rudd says in response: ‘My dealings with President Yudhoyono ... are in first-class working order right across the spread of the bilateral relationship.’ I can only translate that as being Rudd-speak for, ‘I have personally stuffed up the relationship with Indonesia and I don’t want to tell the people of Australia about it.’ In order to win the battle against people smuggling and illegal immigration, Australia needs to send not only the right message but a consistent message to criminal people smugglers who illegally trade in human cargo. There will always be push factors across the world that draw people to other countries—that is an acknowledged fact. But what we do not need is the foot on the accelerator approach to those pull factors by the Rudd government.

Labor have softened our strong border protection policies, and in doing that they have sent a green light to people smugglers that our borders are open and we are open for business. And guess what—lo and behold, the people smugglers have heard Labor’s message loud and clear and are responding by sending increased numbers of illegal boats with their human cargo to Australia. The reality for Mr Rudd is this: as long as Labor continues to dismantle the coalition’s strong border protection measures and puts out the Rudd welcome mat to people smugglers, the pull factors will see a surge in the number of people trying to get to Australia. Mr Rudd cannot sit on his hands and expect the Indonesians to do all of his heavy lifting. Mr Rudd created this problem and now Mr Rudd, like a true leader, needs to find a solution.

More than that, though, the government needs to explain to Australians how it intends to overcome the conundrum that it created for itself by softening our borders. The people of Australia are entitled to answers to the following questions. If the Rudd government cannot guarantee the security of our borders from people smugglers, can our government then guarantee the security of our borders from drug smugglers? Can it guarantee the security of our fishing interests and resources and our billion-dollar oil and gas industry? This will require a lot more than Mr Rudd’s little Indonesian solution, which was nothing more and nothing less than Mr Rudd paying the Indonesians money to keep his own hands clean. But has that worked? Again, no, it has not. The Indonesians have put Mr Rudd in his place. Mr Rudd, the diplomat who likes to strut the world’s stage, has been snubbed by the Indonesians. As reported in the West Australian on 16 September 2009:

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Indonesian solution to the boat people surge is unravelling, with Jakarta making plain its opposition to becoming the dumping ground for Australia-bound asylum seekers.

How unbelievable.

What do we have from those on the other side in response? This is what the minister continues to tell us. They refuse to accept responsibility and they like to use the increase in the number of refugees and the number of displaced people globally as a justification for their failed border protection policies. Logically, one might say that, if Mr Rudd and his minister are prepared to acknowledge that there has been an increase in the number of displaced people, why did he soften Australia’s strong border protection regime? Why then did he take steps to ensure that Australia would become a target for people smugglers? Why isn’t Mr Rudd standing up for the thousands of refugees and displaced persons who are doing the right thing and who are seeking to come here lawfully?

The Rudd government has done nothing more and nothing less than make it easier for the people smugglers to sell their product. People smuggling, as we all know, is a business. People smugglers sell a product, and the product that they are selling is unlawful passage to Australia. With his policy decisions Mr Rudd has now given them something that they did not have under the former coalition government. He has given them a marketing edge by way of special deals. It was bad enough that in August 2008 he took the decision to soften Australia’s border protection regime. That was a marketing tool in itself, but the people smugglers now have the written message on Australian government letterhead sent to the 78 people aboard the Oceanic Viking setting out the special deal that those people will get. The people smugglers can now pass that around to potential customers in Indonesia.

But it is not just the coalition who have been telling those opposite that Kevin Rudd’s policies have made people smuggling more attractive. Let’s look at who else has come to that same conclusion: the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the UN, the Indonesian ambassador, the Federal Police, the International Organisation for Migration. They all say to those opposite that Kevin Rudd’s policies have increased the pull factors. Mr Rudd created the problem; Mr Rudd now needs to find the solution. The simple fact is that the object of any government policy should be to eliminate people smuggling so far as it is practicable so that there are no unauthorised maritime arrivals of people seeking asylum in Australia. That is not a racist comment; it is not a heartless comment. It is not a comment that is lacking in compassion. It is an acknowledgement that people smuggling must be stopped. It should never, ever be controversial to state as a matter of policy that Australians have the right to determine who comes to this country—our country—and the manner in which they come.

Mr Rudd’s policies, the Labor government’s policies, put lives at risk. They have assisted international criminals to grow fat on the profits that they create. But, worse than that, Australia’s limited humanitarian and refugee resources are diverted. They are diverted from the people that we should be assisting to those whose clients have the cash and the contacts to get ahead of the queue. Australians will not be conned by the constant rhetoric in relation to their failure on border protection by Rudd Labor. Remember: this is the man who said ‘concrete measures’ must be taken if a government is to be judged, ‘so that this nation is truly secure, not simply projected to be secure through the political rhetoric of government’.