Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Yes. I do not know why that is. It is just the circumstance.

It is obviously a very concerning trend by this government to not allow the Australian people or the parliament to know exactly what is going on with our resources and our Navy and Customs personnel in relation to events on the high seas. We know—we have heard testimony after testimony from people within our various divisions of border protection, both current and former—how dangerous it is to engage in operations such as turning back the boats and, indeed, towing boats back, without knowing how risky any of those events are or even how many of those events are happening.

There are reports and confirmation that only two weeks ago the Australian government was attempting to tow a boat—a wooden, rickety, asylum seeker boat—and as it was being towed it split in two. The hull came off the boat. This happened on the high seas. There were refugees and asylum seekers on board that boat, and the boat started to sink. Have we heard one word from this government about this particular incident—what happened; how it occurred; who is going to take responsibility for this; what was the risk to our personnel involved in that incident; what happened to the asylum seekers and the people on board that boat? Not a word has come from this government. It is all hushed; it is all silent; it is all cover-up, pretending that this did not happen.

If you do not talk about it, if you do not tell anybody, then hopefully no-one will notice that boats are arriving and that attempts are being made to turn them back and tow them. But we know it is happening because other people are seeing it. The boats that arrive day by day into Christmas Island are watched by Christmas Island locals. They are keeping their own tally and allowing the Australian people to know through their own communication methods because they know this government is desperate to cover up the truth.

There is nothing in these documents that says anything about these incidents. There is nothing in these documents that says there was an incident when a boat which people were on board had its hull broken off and was sinking. You would imagine that that is a pretty serious event to occur—that somebody should be responsible for telling the Australian people and this parliament what happened, how it happened and who is taking responsibility for the decision to tow that boat. This is just one example of the types of things that are being covered up day by day by this government and this minister.

There are, of course, conflicting reports about how many boats have arrived and how many people have been transferred to Christmas Island under this government's watch. In our Friday briefings—otherwise known as Friday farce—the minister stands there pretending that he will answer questions, yet hides behind the military and our men and women in uniform so that they do not have to answer questions. But of course, through the Senate estimates process, we know that it is indeed the minister himself who makes the call as to what is public and what is not. Yet he pretends that it is those within Operation Sovereign Borders and the Navy who are restricting the information to the Australian people. Well, it is not. We heard directly from Lieutenant General Angus Campbell himself that it is the minister who makes the decision as to what the Australian people are able to know and what they are not. It is more of a case of the Minister for Immigration saying he will decide the information that the Australian public will get to know and under what circumstances they will know it. What arrogance of this government!

The incidents that are occurring on our seas are serious enough for this parliament to be made aware of. How much money is being spent on these operations? How many times have Australian personnel been put at risk because of the direction of this government to turn back boats and tow boats despite all of the evidence? All of the evidence, all of the testimony, is that this is an unsafe practice, that Navy personnel do not want to have to carry out these dangerous orders and that it is in fact in direct conflict with and contradicts our obligations under the laws of the sea. And yet here we have the Minister for Immigration, 'Dr Cruel' himself, 'Dr Secret Boats', saying: 'No, you will turn back boats. I don't care about how dangerous it is. We don't care if it creates a sinking just off Christmas Island when people are on board. It is all okay because we will just cover it up and not tell anybody that it is happening.'

This document is an absolute farce. It does not give any information in relation to the incidents. In fact, it says it will not. The argument is here for why that information will not be given and why the Australian people and the parliament do not deserve to know about serious incidents like the sinking of a boat and the resulting rescue of 40 asylum seekers. The argument for not giving us the information about that incident is that it is not in the public interest. Whose interest is it in? I can tell you that seeing these incidents occur on our high seas is not in the interest of our Navy and Customs personnel, and it is not in the interest of the refugees and the asylum seekers on board these boats.

It may be in the interest of the government of the day not to tell us what is going on, because it would prefer to keep the Australian people in the dark. This is a government that thinks the Australian people should be treated like mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed compost. This is basically this government's attitude to the Australian people and this parliament. What absolute disrespect for the dangerous and risky jobs that our government is asking our Navy and Customs personnel to carry out on the high seas!

Of course, the idea that everything can now be classified as an operational matter also changes day by day depending on how uncomfortable the question that the minister has to answer is. One day we hear that it is an operational matter as to whether boats are being brought back from Indonesia. Next we hear that it was not an operational matter, because Lieutenant General Angus Campbell was more than happy to tell the Senate estimates hearing that in fact nothing had happened in relation to that policy—and nothing ever will, because, of course, Indonesia is not participating in that. What is there in this strategy of 'operation secret boats' that the government has, aside from a media cover-up, aside from treating the Australian people as mugs, kept in the dark? Cover-ups, sneaking around, secrecy—and this is all this government has got going for it.

It beggars belief that an incident such as the towing of a boat that results in a sinking and people having to be rescued is not allowed to be spoken about in this chamber according to the Minister for Immigration. Why is that, Minister? Is that because it should never have happened in the first place, if we had actually taken on board the advice of people who have said over and over and over again through testimony in the Senate estimates processes, publicly, that turning back boats is dangerous? Why pretend to the Australian people that these things are not occurring, unless you are just wanting to hide the truth and hide the facts?

I do not accept the claims for public interest immunity as outlined in this document at all. There are absolutely no claims that can suggest that information such as about these serious incidents which put at risk the lives of refugees and the lives of our Navy and Customs personnel should be off limits for discussion and information here in the Senate or indeed the other place. What arrogance and disrespect they have for the people they put in these dangerous and precarious situations.

This order for the production of documents has not been complied with, as we know. I say to the government again: of course there are going to be times when information must not or cannot be fleshed out thoroughly, but we should know basic information about when events occur, the seriousness of events and when an action by this government has put at risk the lives of Australians and refugees. It is an absolute cover-up when this government puts the lives of Australians at risk and it does not want anyone to know. What an absolute joke. What disrespect and arrogance from this government to think that no-one has the right to know.

The Australian Greens will not be accepting the arguments put forward by the minister in the letter tabled today.