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

The Liberal Party are headed for the lowest road as quickly as they can get there. We saw the ads on TV; we are getting back to demonising people rather than treating them as human beings. I urge the Liberal Party to pull back before we go down this road again. We got to a very dark place in Australia in terms of the way we treated people. I thought we had an emerging consensus that we do not want to go back there, but clearly that is not the case.

In accordance with past governments’ practice, the appropriate health and security checks are conducted before people are accommodated in the community. The appropriate security arrangements are provided by Serco, the security provider. I understand there is also a security firm involved in perimeter security. All local police have been consulted about these matters. This is normal practice as it existed under the Howard government, and I do not regard those children as a threat.