Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—The coalition did not support the Greens motion, which is an attempt to threaten and restrict freedom of speech in this Senate, and additionally is an attempt to censor a senator's right to describe a circumstance at issue in the terms that that senator believes appropriate. By agreeing to the motion the Senate sets a precedent by signalling that when a senator objects to the use of a specific word all that senator has to do is have a motion carried in the Senate prohibiting that word.

In any event, the assertion in the motion is factually incorrect. When referring to asylum seekers it is correct to refer to them as having arrived illegally. This is sanctioned by the United Nations. Article 31 of the refugee convention makes specific reference to a person's illegal entry into a receiving state, as does article 3 of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Whilst it is not illegal to make a claim for asylum, if a person crosses borders without complying with the necessary requirements of legal entry into the receiving state that, as defined by the United Nations, is an illegal entry, hence the term 'illegal boat arrival'.