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

Thank you very much, Senator Paterson. As you know, this government is always alert to ensuring that Australia's border protection regime is as strong as possible. The Australian people expect nothing less of us and nothing less of this parliament.

To further strengthen the border protection regime, the government will introduce legislation to amend the Migration Act to prevent illegal maritime arrivals taken to a regional processing country from ever obtaining a visa to travel to Australia. It is vital that the government sends a clear message to the people smugglers and to their potential clients that there is no backdoor entry available for them into Australia. The bill reflects the government's longstanding position that illegal maritime arrivals who have been sent to a regional processing country will never be settled permanently in Australia. The bill will apply to all illegal maritime arrivals taken to a regional processing country since 19 July 2013. Senator Paterson, you might wonder about the significance of the date 19 July 2013. That is the date when the former Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd, signed the regional resettlement arrangement with Papua New Guinea, and Mr Rudd said:

As of today, asylum seekers who come here by boat without a visa will never be resettled in Australia.

Mr Shorten said—just like Mr Rudd did in the run-up to the 2007 election—that Labor would be a carbon copy of the coalition when it came to maintaining the integrity of Australia's borders. Labor's stated policy position is that those in regional processing countries will not permanently settle in Australia. If Mr Shorten is serious, he will support this bill. (Time expired)