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

What an interesting way to approach a point of order. As I was explaining, placing the context of that question is incredibly important. As I was saying, the costing of managing boat arrivals is a complex matter. It depends on the average number of people in detention and the average length of their stay. It depends on how we hold people—whether they are held in community detention or indeed in the community on bridging visas. It depends on family size, security setting and the location of facilities. Mr President, the opposition cannot have it both ways. They cannot complain about the costs associated with the arrival rate while continuing to stand in the way of further measures recommended by the expert panel—like the Malaysia arrangement, which would have had a real impact on arrivals as part of the broader suite of measures that was recommended.