Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. What I have indicated is that the government will finalise the agreement with Malaysia in the coming weeks, depending on resolution of certain operational matters. I also indicated that it was a bit rich to argue the toss about increasing the humanitarian target, which we are quite proud of, when the Liberal Party during the last election sought to increase it to 15,000 and double it in their conversations when they were trying to secure a majority in the House of Repre­sentatives—a proposition which would have cost $3 billion. That was the claim when they were discussing the matter with Mr Wilkie—$3 billion to get one vote. And they want to argue the toss about increasing slightly the refugee intake numbers that we are doing at the moment! We see here a little of hypocrisy even by Liberal Party standards that sinks to new depths.