Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw. The minister has said things which are completely and totally untrue about the way in which the previous government acted on these matters. He has constantly misrepresented the facts, he has been injudicious with the truth and on many occasions he has failed to fundamentally deal with some basic questions. What country information is the government using to assess refugee claims? What is the quality of the information being gathered? Who is conducting these assessments? What are the rights of appeal for applicants? What judicial restrictions were there when the assessments took place? Were the asylum seekers able under our protective mechanisms to have legal representation, and if so from whom?

The fact is that there is no evidence being provided to this parliament to support the government's claim that it is acting within the law. The integrity of our refugee status determination system is significantly at risk by the failure of this government to actually come clean on these issues. The policy of secrecy and duplicity will bring this country into disrepute. The government's actions are clearly for political motives, not for national security motives. The appropriate action would be for the government to bring these asylum seekers to Christmas Island so that a proper and thorough assessment can be undertaken. Under those circumstances, it may well be appropriate to transfer people to Manus Island or Nauru, or to repatriate them. But there has to be a proper legal process to assess their claims for refugee status.

The minister needs to explain why he has neglected to act in accordance with the Regional Settlement Arrangement, which would have provided a much higher level of efficiency. The minister now has to acknowledge the facts in this matter before the High Court of Australia. This is something he has failed to do in this parliament and for the Australian people. We will soon see whether the government's claims to be acting within the law are, in fact, valid. We will soon be able to test the claim that Australia is acting within its international obligations. I look forward to the High Court's deliberations.