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

I say to Senator Hinch that I genuinely believe he's on the right side of history in the decision that he's made today.

This Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2018 is vitally important for refugees on Manus Island and Nauru who have now spent nearly six years detained indefinitely in those countries and who have suffered horrendously as a result. I've been to Manus Island five times and I've seen their suffering for myself. Medical treatment that they need and that the doctors believe that they need will now be available to them in Australia under this legislation. And that is a bare minimum that we should expect in a civilised society. But this bill is actually about so much more than just medical treatment, and its place in our country's history when we look back on this chapter in our collective story means a turning point in the divisive and toxic debate around refugees that's been in this place and this country at least since the MV Tampa hove over the horizon nearly 20 years ago.

Last year, the Senate voted for humanity. The Senate voted for human decency, and in doing so it dealt a body blow to those toxic and divisive politics of fear. Yesterday, the house of assembly did the same: they voted for humanity and they voted for common decency, and in doing so, the House dealt a body blow to those toxic politics of fear and division that, ultimately, have caused deaths, sexual assaults, rapes and human suffering beyond the imagining of any senator for so many people on Manus Island and Nauru.

Today, the Senate is going to confirm the decision that we made collectively late last year. This is a turning point for our country. When our national story is written, when the historians look at what's happened over the last 20 years and, arguably, longer, at the way that refugees and people seeking asylum have been demonised and deliberately harmed—and I genuinely hope that there will be a royal commission one day to get to the bottom of how we fell so far in this country—when historians are writing this dark and bloodied chapter in Australia's story, today and yesterday will be seen as pivotal moments where this parliament rose above that toxicity and voted for humanity and voted for decency.