Mark Furner (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon to contribute to this debate as well. I guess the one thing I agree with Senator Back on is the eminence of the group of those who made up the panel to bring about an end to this particular situation that we have had, and we have had it for many years. Even under the coalition there were issues with boat arrivals, so it is not a case of being solely an issue that this government has had to deal with.

When you look at the report there are certainly signposts that indicate the problems in dealing with this particular issue. One is the range of disincentives to discourage irregular and dangerous maritime travel to Australia. If we put a stop to that we have done our job as a parliament. I am pleased that the coalition has finally seen through the opportunity to come on board—