Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise to make some very brief remarks following the comprehensive and heartfelt contributions of my colleagues on this side of this place on the Migration Legislation Amendment (Regional Processing and Other Measures) Bill 2012. Notwithstanding some of the emotional speeches made from the crossbenches, the continued loss of asylum seekers' lives at sea is a matter that fundamentally strikes at the heart of us all. We are at one in our determination to do what we can to ensure the disgraceful practice of people trafficking is stopped—period—and that the most humanitarian approach is taken in dealing with refugees. The coalition has consistently argued for and demanded the adoption of the former Howard government's Pacific solution for one reason and for one reason alone: history has demonstrated that it works. The Pacific solution worked. It is compassionate, notwithstanding the histrionics of those who have decried it in the past and continue to decry it today.

I feel impelled, though, to put on the record a couple of points. I will make them fairly brief because it is important that this legislation be passed today. Firstly, political parties are elected to office to govern. That is something that this Gillard government does not seem to get. It is the responsibility of an elected government to make the necessary tough decisions that are in the interests of all Australians to ensure that we fulfil our international and moral obligations. What worries me most, though, is that, whilst the coalition has continually sought to sit down with the government to discuss the policies that worked under a coalition government, the Gillard government, firstly, refused to do so—