James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Reynolds, you are right. That is shameful. Certain people who come in here and cry tears but do not mention the 1,100 people who perished at sea have a false morality and are hypocrites. The government is doing what it said it was going to do. It is stopping the boats.

In terms of resettling in Cambodia, we said we were going to have a regional solution. We do have a regional solution: we are going to Cambodia. There is soft racism—and it is soft racism—about why Cambodia is not good enough for the resettlement of these people. Cambodia is a fine country. It is a good country. Those people sniggering and smirking about Cambodia should know that Cambodia will provide a safe home, it will provide an education and it will look after people—and those people will not be perishing at sea. I challenge people, through you, Mr Acting Deputy President, to talk about the 1,100 people at sea. Let us talk about those deaths. 'No, we will not!' There is a black hole of silence coming from a certain corner of this chamber, because they will not talk about those deaths. They will talk about anything else except those deaths and the number of lives that this government has saved through stopping the boats. (Time expired)