Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Alright; I withdraw those comments. The simple fact is this: Mr Dutton continues to get away with a rampant trampling of the human rights of people who are in his care. The reason he is getting away with it is the complete failure of the Australian Labor Party to oppose him. The Labor Party went to the last election in Australia promising the same policy on people seeking asylum in Australia as the Liberal Party did. Here are the consequences: starving, dehydrated and defenceless people being driven out of Australia's Manus Island prison by being beaten with metal bars. All the hand-wringing, the letter writing and the crocodile tears we see from the odd Labor member from time to time will not change the fact that the Labor Party is in absolute policy lock step with the Liberals in regard to trampling the human rights of our fellow human beings on Manus Island and Nauru. The Labor Party has not taken one single practical step to get those people out of the hellholes on Manus Island and Nauru and bring them to safety and freedom. The Labor Party can get upset with the Greens all it likes, but we will not be silenced when it's the cowardice of the Australian Labor Party that put these men on Manus Island in the first place and that is giving licence to the disgraceful attacks on them that we've seen perpetrated in recent weeks by the Australian and the Papua New Guinean governments.

The Greens desperately want to bring the sorry chapter in our country's history of offshore detention to an end, but we cannot do it on our own. We need the support of the Australian Labor Party to bring that sorry chapter to an end. I say to the Australian Labor Party today: stop wringing your hands. Enough with the crocodile tears. Join with the Greens in demanding that offshore detention ends now and that every single man, woman and child that is currently on Manus Island or Nauru or in Port Moresby is brought here to freedom and safety in Australia. If the Labor Party were to rediscover its conscience and demand those things and join with the Greens—not just demand them but vote for them in this parliament—offshore detention would be over and the best of Australia could shine again.

Question agreed to.