Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson-Young continues to get engaged about the children that have died, and she goes back to the time of the SIEVX. Indeed, it was a tragedy, and that is why we implemented policies that stopped the boats coming. We know the callous and hard-hearted Senator Hanson-Young is becoming increasingly embittered because of her failed leadership attempts within the Greens, and now she continues to desperately look for any other way to grab some notoriety along the way. If she listened instead of talking all the time, we would have a far better opportunity to determine how Australia's national interest is improved by having an orderly migration and refugee program.

I make the point that those on this side of the chamber and those on the Labor side of the chamber actually support a humanitarian refugee intake. It is something that we think is important. We have in excess of 13,000 places currently there for that. We have people in camps right around the world, wading through the United Nations processes to come to Australia or be delivered into a better life, and we support the United Nations in that endeavour. Some of them, indeed, are waiting five, 10 or 15 years in order to do that. Unfortunately, there are people in this chamber, within the Greens party, who would prefer people to be able to buy their way into the country by paying criminals who facilitate illegal entry vessels. I am not sure how that fits in with the Greens' global agenda, but nonetheless it is wrong. It is wrong that people are able to, in effect, circumvent the appropriate processes by paying money. That might sit comfortably within the Greens party, but it does not sit comfortably with the people of Australia. It is a great concern that, despite the overwhelming evidence, people are still refusing to see the truth, if you will.

But, having said that, I do not stand here believing that a return to offshore processing itself will stem this tide—this virtual armada—of illegal vessels. I do not see that, because the people smugglers are quite canny and they know that the government's policies in this regard will eventually meet a tipping point. The tipping point will be when Nauru, Manus Island and whatever other solutions they can concoct are full. So the problem is that we have the first leg of a three-legged stool. But it is progress, because hopefully it will deter some people from making a dangerous and perilous journey and taking advantage of Australia's good will. But there are other aspects that need to be implemented in order to fully protect people from the vicious people-smuggling trade. We need a return to temporary protection visas. When people are fleeing countries in genuine fear of their lives and they are desperately looking for a humanitarian solution, they need to know they can stop somewhere and be safe until it is safe for them to return to their home countries.

I pick up on a few words that Senator Siewert said. She is generally very measured in these areas. Senator Siewert made a point about people fleeing for their lives and about war zones and things of that nature. Predominantly the boats come from Indonesia, which is neither a war zone nor where people are being persecuted—except Christians in some areas. People that reside in Indonesia are generally safe and they have opportunities. They have entered Indonesia through one, two or three countries—sometimes from Afghanistan, Pakistan or elsewhere. So it is not as if they have fled their direct point of peril. They have gone through a number of areas in order to reside in Indonesia.

The second point I make about the boats is that some of them come from Sri Lanka. Of course, Sri Lanka has had a troubled time, and there is no question about that, but Sri Lanka is now no longer a war zone—as evidenced, I guess, by the fact that the Deputy President of the Senate is now representing the President at an international parliamentary conference there this week. We are not in the habit of sending senior parliamentary representatives to war zones for political conferences.

The point I make is that it is disingenuous to say that these people are fleeing a war zone or are fleeing in fear of their lives. They have had an opportunity to move to different countries in some instances, or they are leaving because they think that there is a better life in Australia. There may indeed be a better life for them in Australia, but we should be determining who comes to Australia and the circumstances in which they come to Australia, as John Howard famously said. More importantly, we should not undermine the work of the United Nations through the processes that are formally in place in many of these camps.

Senator Di Natale interjecting—

It is a great concern that there are those over on my left who are flippant about such important things as this because they do not like dealing with the facts. The facts that we have are that there are successful policies that have been proven to work in the past. They were dismantled by the government, ill-advisedly, and the boats started to come again and people started to die again. We do not have a cavalier manner about this. We do not have a cavalier approach to it; we have a genuine desire to make sure that people do not die at sea.

In that respect, I am pleased that the Labor Party have joined us. I am pleased that people like Senator Doug Cameron stood up here in this chamber and said, 'When the facts change, I change my mind.' It is a credit to Senator Cameron, because he is quite intransigent on any number of things, but he has recognised through the caucus process that this is a very important path. The problem that we have is that there are still those people masquerading as compassionate who somehow think there should be an open slather where anyone who wants to arrive in Australia should be able to come here. There is no actual proposal from the Greens about what limit there should be on the number of people who claim refugee status in Australia. There is no point that the boats should stop coming because people are dying. The only suggestion they could perhaps offer is that we fly them in directly or buy a ship. Maybe we could use that trawler that they successfully banned today; just load it up with refugees and bring it over to satisfy the insatiable demand from the Greens to undermine whatever sovereignty Australia has. It is an extraordinary position. It is a wilfully negligent position they have taken with regard to this.

Whilst I feel very strongly about this—and I know that many people do on this particular area—I think we have to take a genuine humanitarian approach. The fact is that, if refugees or illegal arrivals are processed offshore in Nauru or on Manus Island, they will be safe. This satisfies that. They will be accommodated, they will be fed, they will receive appropriate medical care and they will receive the appropriate education and lessons required to ensure that it happens.