John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Acting Deputy President, I take you back to the election on 10 November 2001. I was working for the National Party of course, in the seat of New England. We had a sitting National Party member in Stuart St Clair, who was being challenged by what the people of New England thought to be a conservative Independent, Tony Windsor. It was a very interesting election campaign.

During that campaign we had a visit from the then minister supposedly responsible for all the problems we are talking about in this debate, Philip Ruddock. Minister Ruddock addressed a gathering in Tamworth and I was present at that gathering. He told us how in July and August 2001—this was in about October 2001—we had been getting 1,000 asylum seekers a month coming here by boat. He told us of the danger, the cost and the threat to life on those leaky and dangerous boats. He told us they had a problem and how they brought the problem to a stop.

They brought it to a stop by introducing such things as temporary protection visas. People ask: what is a temporary protection visa? It is exactly what it says: you come to Australia and you are given a visa for temporary protection until the place you come from settles down or there is some other region you can go to. There was a serious problem and it was a costly problem. Mr Ruddock said that if the Department of Immigration rejected a person's application then they could go to the Federal Court. If they failed there in their application for refugee status in Australia, they could go to the High Court. It was costing us up to $300,000 in legal fees to provide for these people to take Australia to court. We also had to pay for the government's legal team, so you can double that figure. It was hugely expensive.

The government said it would set up Nauru and process the people there. Then they would not come to our courtrooms and we would not have the costs. It would send a clear message that you do not simply jump on a boat, pay your way and come to Australia, when we allow 13,750 refugees into this country each year—genuine ones, from refugee camps. We have many such refugees in my home town of Inverell. We have had Sudanese people settle in my town over the last few years. They are good citizens, working, with opportunities and a roof over their head. One of those citizens recently was a finalist for the employees award in the Inverell Business Awards.

They are good people who have had an opportunity here since they were brought from the camps. Many Australians view those who pay their way to come here in a boat as queue jumpers, and that is the thing that frustrates them. You speak to the people who are brought to Australia from those refugee camps and from horrible situations and they will tell you that they waited a long time. They went through the process. That is what angers many Australians.

We finally solved the problem and the boat arrivals were brought virtually to a trickle. We know that it was Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who lowered the bar and did away with temporary protection visas. That sent a message that we were open for business again to those who could pay their way to come here. This is the unfortunate thing we have to stop. We have to stop this industry because of the deaths of people. We watched that footage on TV of the boat being wrecked off Christmas Island, with some 50 lives lost. Incidents like that are what we have to stop. In November last year there were reports of another boat apparently heading to Australia with around 100 asylum seekers. They have never been seen again. What we are doing is losing lives. People are being conned into paying money to the traffickers of human beings who are bringing them here and who are getting a fortune in the context of their currency and their standard of living in Indonesia or wherever. It is an industry that has taken off, and the ensuing loss of life is a problem.

We had the problem; we fixed it. This government now has a problem—and look where you are going with it. Prior to the election, the solution was going to be East Timor. But there were no negotiations or agreements with East Timor. Then it was Manus Island. Now it is Malaysia. I find it appalling that you are going to ear-tag people like cattle to send them to Malaysia, where they can walk free because they are tagged so they will not be beaten. What are we doing? Since August 2008, 11,533 asylum seekers have arrived in no fewer than 230 boats.

Look at Malaysia's record. I have been informed that, from 2002 to 2008, 1,300 people died in Malaysian detention centres or depots due to poor detention conditions. They are held in crowded conditions and receive limited water and food. Now, I do not know if that is a fact, if it is true. But, if it is true, that is deplorable. Yet this government's solution is to say, 'We'll send 800 of these people to Malaysia—no, we won't lock them up, they won't be caned; we'll have them ear-tagged,' like in the National Livestock Identification System, the NLIS. 'We'll do this and everything'll be right. It'll stop the boats.' We have had some 300 asylum seekers come to our shores in Australia and to Christmas Island since this policy was announced. It is not stopping the boats. We have in Nauru, an island of about 10,000 people, a facility built by the previous Australian government that is ready and willing to be opened, and where we can actually solve the problem. I think this comes down to arrogance.

Surely, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Rudd, should be going in and looking at this as well. Where is he? We do not see him on this issue, probably the biggest issue and one that means so much to the Australian people. Billions of dollars that we could be putting into our aged-care facilities, our hospitals or other infrastructure are now going on this scheme so that people can traffic in human beings to make money. It is a disgraceful industry, it is costing lives, it is costing our taxpayers money and we seem to be getting further and further behind instead of getting ahead by solving the problems we face with this. I urge the foreign minister to work closely with the Prime Minister and others—if that is possible as we approach the one-year anniversary of Mr Rudd's political decapitation—to solve this problem. The longer this industry goes on, the more lives are threatened. We have seen men, women and children lose their lives because of this industry. The industry must be shut down, and the government must swallow its arrogant pride and get onto a solution to the problem, not continue it, seemingly forever.