Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator McKim constantly comes into this place and gets out on the media streams, saying, 'Tell everyone the facts.' We know the facts. We know how bad the facts are. We don't need you to constantly tell us the facts. We have civil society out there telling us the facts. I've had umpteen briefings from the UNHCR. Amnesty International are at this moment waiting in my office to give me another briefing. We've had so many briefings. We know how bad it is, and we have made it so public that the government knows. What we need are solutions. We need solutions to this problem. So stop playing politics with the Labor Party because you make yourselves just as bad as the government in doing so. We know you're the protest party. You're not a party of government. But you need to make a decision. What government do you want at the next election? Do you want a Labor government or do you want a coalition government? Every time you attack the progressive side of politics, you do yourself a disservice in the sense that you are assisting the coalition to win brownie points. That is not helping the people on Manus Island, nor the people on Nauru. Giving them false hope does not help.

The Greens cannot resolve this issue. They can come in here, they can pass motions and they can get in the media, but they will not be in government. There is a two-party preferred system in this country, and at the next election either there will be a Labor government or there will be a coalition government. I know which one I'd prefer, and I certainly know which one the people in my Australian community—indeed, in my Tasmanian community—would prefer when it comes to the issue of refugees. If they want make a protest vote, they can vote for the Greens.