Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

We've heard from Senator Keneally, a senator who failed to acknowledge that the previous system in place worked. The reality was that medical treatment necessary for individuals on Manus or Nauru was there. Systems were there to make sure that, where necessary, additional support was available. It also worked to help stop the flow of illegal arrivals into this country that the Labor Party, when they were last in office, so successfully created. The Labor Party has a track record of unpicking border protection laws when in office. The Liberal and National parties have a clear track record of fixing those holes and providing border security.

Labor's medevac law, their 'bring them all here' law, was passed by parliament, based very clearly on a misunderstanding or a lie from those opposite. There was no medical emergency that existed, the treatment options were available and are available, and the processes under the previous law were clearly available. Whichever way you look at it, the creation of this law by those opposite has only weakened Australia's borders, created another window of opportunity and effectively removed the ability of the government to have final decisions in terms of who comes to our country.

Senator Keneally interjecting—

Despite Senator Keneally's claims, Labor's medevac law failed to provide a mechanism to return or remove transferees brought to Australia back to PNG or Nauru. This advice, I'm told, has been provided to Senator Keneally on multiple occasions by the Department of Home Affairs, including at the Legal and Constitutional Affairs inquiry into the legislation and including through Senate estimates. Time and again Senator Keneally has been advised that the legislation does not include a provision to return or remove transferees back to PNG or Nauru.

The Department of Home Affairs advised that, since the introduction of Labor's medevac law into parliament, as well as the creation of that hole in our border protection laws, there has been a marked increase in self-harm behaviours in regional processing centres. That is, tragically, the type of consequence that can come, just as when Labor unpicked border protection laws when last in office. The flow of boats to Australia didn't just weaken our border protection and it didn't just create the tragic circumstances of government having to reopen processing centres that we had been able to close in the Howard years; it also saw many lives lost at sea as a result of those seeking to come here.

Our policies have managed to ensure that we stop the arrivals. They've meant that we've been able to close the centres and that we've been able to make sure, overwhelmingly, that we have addressed this problem. If we stick to the policies that we've put in place, we will end up in the situation we were in at the end of the Howard government—without people in detention, without arrivals, and with policies that allow the government of the day to provide for the humanitarian intake that we need.

This bad legislation that the Labor Party forced through in the last parliament is not helping in terms of maintaining the types of policies that have given us the success to date. That's why the government continues to believe that it should be repealed.