George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson-Young, as I said to you, and I am just going to have to say it again, the medical needs of a particular asylum seeker or detainee are always taken into account when a decision is made whether or not to return that person—whether it be an adult or a child—to a regional processing centre. Those decisions are made by ministers. Those decisions are informed by medical advice. Where the medical advice suggests that individuals should not be returned, the minister will routinely decide to adhere to that medical advice. That has always been the practice, and it was the practice in the case of Baby Asha. But, Senator Hanson-Young, it has always been the practice. By the proposition you have put to me in your question, you imply that that is not the case. It is the case; it always has been the case that we listen to medical advice. (Time expired)