Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition asked questions today of Senator Cash in relation to this very issue. Senator Cash was unable to answer any of the questions that were asked by Senator Carr. Standing orders, as we know, require that a minister be directly relevant in their answers. But she was directly irrelevant in her answers. In fact, Senator Abetz on the ABC's Insiders program last Sunday gave more insight into what the government is or is not doing in relation to this issue than Senator Cash did. Yet she, like Minister Morrison, is a minister responsible for the fate of these 153 asylum seekers.

We have no idea where these asylum seekers are located on this Australian vessel. The High Court has adjourned for today, but we now know that government lawyers have told the High Court that 72 hours notice will be given before these 150 or so asylum seekers held on the Customs ship are handed back to Sri Lankan authorities. We now know that these asylum seekers have 72 hours more—existing somewhere in some waters. We have no idea where they are.

We know that some 37 children are alleged to be on board. Huge concern has been raised by 53 of Australia's international legal experts. The President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, has raised concerns about the fate of those children on board. We know from the statement that has been provided by those 53 legal experts that the government's actions have raised a real risk of refoulement, placing Australia in breach of our obligations under international refugee and human rights law—including the 1951 Refugee Convention, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1996 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

But more than that, there is something immoral about the government's actions here. This is a democracy. We live in a democracy. We act under the rule of law, even though that may not be going on in Sri Lanka—a country which we know has human rights violations. We know from the United Nations Human Rights Council what has occurred since and during the war in Sri Lanka. We operate under the rule of law, yet we are more than happy to send Sri Lankan asylum seekers back to a country that is failing in regard to its own human rights responsibilities, where people are in fear of persecution. That is why the Sri Lankan asylum seekers have left their country; they are fleeing persecution.

Australia is a western country that lives by its rule of law but is willing to send asylum seekers back to a country where they fear persecution. And the Australian government will not even tell its own people where these asylum seekers are and what they are going to do about it, other than what we have found out through the media. We find out a lot more about the government's activities through the media than we do through the government and through question time. They have now given 72 hours notice, continuing to hold these asylum seekers on board. What kind of country are we to treat asylum seekers in this way? We are violating people's basic human rights as well as international law. I am sure this is not the Australia the majority of Australians want to live in.

The other concerning aspect that has come out of this is the integrity of our refugee status determination system, which is at significant risk under this minister. What are they doing about it? They are continuing to hide in secrecy, continuing to not let the Australian people know. There is a father who is pleading with Minister Morrison, desperate to know where his family is. I believe his three-year-old daughter is missing on a boat. This is outrageous— (Time expired)