Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I meant Senator Hanson-Young, I'm sorry. My apologies, Senator Hanson. Should I ever equate with you Senator Hanson-Young deliberately, I will cut my wrists. I would never do that; I would never insult you in that way. But we first of all had Senator Hanson-Young bursting into tears at the appropriate time in every speech she made, but at least she was better than their current spokesman, Senator McKim, who barely can be represented as an Australian. He says he does not recognise his country when we're talking about this. I say to Senator McKim: your country would not want to recognise you, and perhaps you should go back to the place of your birth.

We have been through this time and time again. Everything we have heard from Senator McKim is a fabrication. This accusation of torture might excite a few of the GetUp! people and a few of the Greens political party's few members, but most Australians know that is a positive and deliberate lie. There is no torture there. In fact, if we talk just for a moment about Manus, I happened to be up in PNG and speaking to the local member for Manus in the PNG parliament. It is a sovereign country, and I understand what's happening there. This particular centre was shut down on the orders of the PNG supreme court, which the Greens political party applauded. They applauded the fact that the PNG supreme court had ordered this centre to be shut down.

It was shut down and three alternative places of accommodation were built. I tell you, it was better accommodation than most Australians living outside of the capital cities have. It had all the food, all the clothing, all the support and all the air-conditioning as the other centres on Manus. Those in that centre, which the supreme court said must be shut down, were free to go to any of these other centres where they would be properly cared for, yet Senator McKim calls this torture.

On Nauru, again, these are not people who were invited to Australia. They're not poor refugees. They are wealthy people trying to get into the promised land, the land promised by the people smugglers, which continues to be promised by a group of lawyers and the Greens political party in Australia. Keep on encouraging these people and giving them false hope that they will again one day be able to come illegally into Australia.

Australia has a great reputation for accepting genuine refugees. In fact, per capita, I think Australia is No. 2 or No. 3 in the world in generosity for accepting genuine refugees into this country, who we look after, as we should. Australia has nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to our concern for and helping of genuine refugees. These people in Nauru and Manus can leave at any time they like. Those who have been determined by the UNHCR to be genuine refugees can go to the United States or other countries or they can return home. We have examples of certain refugees who claim they would be murdered if they went home. We have examples, not in Manus or Nauru but in Australia, of them going back on holidays to the country that they claim they can't return to because they'll be put to death. Now, Madam Acting Deputy President, this debate—