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

The highly narky political supplementary question by the senator does her no credit. It does not advance public debate in this country at all. The opposition fail to take public debate seriously. They fail to make a contribution. One of the things I think the opposition ought to think about is whether or not they still maintain their opposition to us being able to return people to Malaysia because, given their recent decision to send people back to Sri Lanka without the benefit of having their claims assessed, clearly they have abandoned any commitment they profess to hold to the operation of the refugees convention. These are serious public policy matters. They involve really hard choices. And I am not sure the senator's contribution is at all helpful or constructive.