Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Attorney-General (Senator Brandis) to a question without notice asked by Senator Di Natale today relating to recent media reports concerning people smugglers.

The recent reports around people-smuggling payments being made to the crews of vessels carrying asylum seekers in Australian waters raised some very serious questions, and not just because they jeopardised the relationship we have with an important trading partner in Indonesia—although that in and of itself is serious enough, and for a government who prided itself on having a focus more on Jakarta than Geneva, every misstep this government has taken when it comes to relations with our nearest neighbour have further served to jeopardise that relationship. But it is also important because it raises questions of the potential breach to domestic and indeed international law. Further still, it raises questions about the nation that we are and the lengths that we are prepared to go to in order to serve a particular policy need.

These are very, very serious allegations, and they demand an answer; they absolutely demand an answer. We had a government that was elected with the promise to be open and transparent, honest and accountable, and instead they have served over the past year and a half, since being elected, as a government that has done nothing other than treat the Australian community with the utmost contempt. In the Prime Minister's response to this very serious issue he said that he would address it by hook or by crook. And that is our fear: that he is focusing on the crook part of the equation, that in fact what we are seeing a very serious breach of domestic and indeed international law. It is almost as though they are waving us away as though it is some sort of minor infringement—a parking fine. This is a very serious issue. It has put at risk our relationship with Indonesia and we are now considering allegations about whether the Australian government has engaged in the people-trafficking business. Today Senator Brandis referred to it as an operational matter and that he would not comment on operational matters. We have heard these issues being described as on-water matters or matters of national security—frighteningly Orwellian are the responses that we are getting from this government.

Of course, the stories have changed over time. We had vehement denials from the immigration minister, Minister Dutton, and indeed from the foreign minister, Minister Bishop. Their language has changed over recent days. The Prime Minister has been evasive, refusing to rule it out, and now we have Minister Dutton who refuses to rule out whether payments have been made. Today, when asked a very specific question in question time, Senator Brandis refused to rule out whether payments were made to people smugglers. He refused to rule it out. We could stop this debate right now with a simple denial from the Prime Minister or, indeed, the Minister representing the Prime Minister in this chamber, Senator Brandis, and yet he will not do it.

Right now we need a full, thorough, independent investigation of these matters. The Greens have written to the Australian Federal Police. We believe that this matter warrants their attention. If Australian officials have indeed paid people smugglers, if they have paid the crews of boats carrying asylum seekers in an effort to induce or assist them to return to Indonesia, that is a very serious offence. Of course, Minister Brandis's defence is: 'We've stopped the boats. It doesn't matter: whatever it takes, we'll sink to any depth, but we've stopped the boats.' Here is a message for Senator Brandis: stopping the boats is easy; you just have to sink to the depths and depravity of those regimes that forced those people to leave their homelands. You have to make the conditions as harsh and as cruel and as brutal as the conditions in which people have fled. Stopping the boats is easy. The question is: at what price? Are we prepared to continue to see young kids in detention self-harm? Are we prepared to continue to see women being denied treatment when they are pregnant? Are we prepared to continue to engage in this despicable trade?

Regardless of how you feel about the issue, this is broader than just the issue of refugees and asylum seekers; it is about the rule of law, it is about ensuring that we keep a check on executive power and that we do not dismiss these very serious allegations with the trivial responses we have seen so far. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.