Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the minister for saying initially that they were in the process of developing arrangements and later then saying that it would be a number of weeks, dependent upon certain operational matters. Thank you, Minister. What this really means is that we have no idea—it could be weeks, months, years. So I asked the minister: what additional steps is the government proposing to stop the flood of boat arrivals who will try to get in in that interregnum—that one week, three months, two years or whatever it is—until this arrangement is finalised?(Time expired)