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

Mr President, I seek leave to make a short statement for one minute.

Leave is granted for one minute.

I find it extraordinary that the first and only person forcibly returned to Afghanistan under this government has been found to have been tortured upon return, so much so that the minister has, rightly, called for an investigation. Yet we see here today the government refusing to accept that halting the forced returns of others might indeed be a good idea, given they could not guarantee the safety of the only one person whom they have so far sent back. There is an investigation underway. The government know that something happened that should not have happened. They know it is dangerous there and here we have the government blindly wishing to continually dump Hazara refugees back in Afghanistan to face torture by the Taliban. I do not know what the opposition are going to do on this motion. I suspect they did not want this going to a vote in the first place. They should vote in support of this motion and I hope they do the right thing. (Time expired)