Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

In reiterating to the Senate the integral nature of supporting this motion to designate the Republic of Nauru as a regional processing country, I would like to address the amendments put forward by the coalition and the Greens and the reasons why the government will not be supporting these amendments.

The government is taking action recommended by a panel of experts. The government has agreed in principle to implement all 22 recommendations of the expert panel report on asylum seekers, and this is how responsible governments develop policy: listening to the advice of experts. Those recommendations included regional processing in Nauru as soon as practicable. However, the expert panel report does not recommend temporary protection visas, a measure that in the past saw 68 per cent of refugees permanently remain in Australia, and makes it clear that tow-backs do create a risk to the lives of Australian Defence Force personnel and would only ever work with agreement with other countries—something Indonesia has said will not happen.

Faced with opposition for opposition sake, we are taking the politics out of this issue. Instead, the principle behind this policy is that saving lives is paramount. Contrary to the Greens accusations levelled through the course of the debate, transferees will not be left on Nauru indefinitely. However, to have an effective policy, it is necessary, as articulated in the expert panel report on asylum seekers, to have a no-advantage principle for people seeking asylum—that is, those who seek asylum are not given any preferential treatment in processing their claims as a result of travelling irregularly to Australia. That means that people who arrive in Australia by boat should not be resettled any faster than refugees waiting in refugee camps around the world.

If the government is going to invest in a regional process, it is fundamental that asylum seekers should be required to access that process and not seek an advantage by travelling to Australia irregularly. It is important to remember that irregular maritime arrivals would have been waiting long periods in the region for processing and provision of a durable outcome. We are not adding to that time, only reinforcing the principle that there will be no advantage gained in paying a people smuggler to bring them to Australia and risking their lives in the process. These measures are in conjunction with the unprecedented rise in the humanitarian intake to 20,000 people. This will include refugees who have been waiting for a number of years in the hope of resettlement.

It is also important to note that the panel has also recommended circumstances in which people spend time waiting in Nauru will be different than when asylum seekers were processed in Nauru in the past. The intention is that facilities will be open, there will be appropriate mental health arrangements, and transferees will have access to education and vocational opportunities. The department is still negotiating the final details of the arrangements with international health and medical services, but people will receive a similar level of health care in Nauru as is provided to people in detention in Australia. People transferred to Nauru will receive health care from on-site general practitioners, nurses, paramedics when necessary, and counsellors and psychologists. There will also be a visiting psychiatrist and other specialists as required. The transferees will be provided with any medications prescribed by general practitioners and other medical specialists. The local medical facility on Nauru will be available to support certain services, including X-ray, dental and maternity.

This motion seeks to implement a key and urgent recommendation of the expert panel report: the designation of the Republic of Nauru as a regional processing country. The government's policy will be a clear demonstration that people can pursue regular options and be safely referred to resettlement countries like Australia as part of an orderly humanitarian program while providing no advantage to those who arrive by boat, and together these things will undermine the people-smuggling trade. For these reasons, the government will be opposing the amendments put forward by the coalition and the Greens. I commend the substantive motion to the Senate.