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

I can assure the senator that the government is absolutely committed to honouring its international obligations and they include those obligations under the refugee convention and also those under the rights of the child convention—I was going to say 'CROC' but it always sounds terrible: 'under CROC', the Convention on the Rights of the Child. So the government does remain committed to those. But the government also remains committed to addressing the scourge of people smuggling and taking positive action to try to undermine the business model that sees many people risk their lives in seeking refuge in Australia. Australia remains on a per capita basis, I think, the largest contributor to the settlement of refugees in the world. Not only do we take our obligation to uphold the convention and meeting the obligation of helping resettle people very seriously; Australia has, under governments of both persuasions, a very proud record in terms of resettlement of those found to be refugees. Senator, you point to two issues that are part of the current debate about how we respond to the challenge of people smuggling and respond to the recent High Court decision. The government is aware of its obligations under both that convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child and will be honouring those and seeking to find policy solutions that continue to reflect our strong com­mitment to those international obligations and to enact a regional response that best attacks the scourge of people smuggling.