Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Evans. I draw the minister’s attention to figures from the UNHCR which indicate that new asylum applications in Australia rose by 30 per cent in 2009—that does not include, of course, the 24 boats and, at last count, 1,200 arrivals this year—whereas applications in the UK decreased by six per cent in 2009. Can the minister explain to the Senate why the global push factors he has spoken about before push asylum seekers towards Australia but do not appear to be pushing them towards Britain?