Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I just want to ask a question in relation to this issue of advantage and nonadvantage—and it does go to this issue. One of the recommendations of the Houston panel is that the whole of mainland Australia be excised and join Christmas Island et al as part of the excision zone from the Migration Act. If you are going to be fair about advantage and disadvantage and if the whole of the mainland is excised, does that mean that people who fly into Australia without a visa are now going to come under this, or is it still only going to be other people? So you can arrive by plane when the whole of Australia, the whole mainland, is excised, and you can land—and it is not subject to the migration laws et cetera—but, because you came by plane and not by boat, you will not be subject to this legislation? That surely goes against the convention that says there should be no discrimination based on the way you arrived. Can you just clarify whether you are going to excise the whole country, the whole mainland—leaving out Tasmania, of course? I just want to know that, Minister.