Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I address my question to one of the few frontbenchers here, Senator Coonan, in her capacity—

Government Senators:

Government senators interjecting—

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, it is a shared issue; I agree. My question is to Senator Coonan in her capacity representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Is the minister aware of reports today that the chair of Indonesia’s parliamentary foreign relations committee, Mr Theo Sambuaga, has said that Australia should pass changes to its immigration laws before the Prime Minister meets with the Indonesian President next week? Can the minister indicate whether Mr Sambuaga is speaking on behalf of the Indonesian government, and whether those views have been directly communicated to the Australian government? Isn’t it the case that the Prime Minister advised Indonesia that changes to Australia’s immigration laws would be passed before his meeting with the Mr Yudhoyono? Will that meeting still go ahead even if the Prime Minister is so comprehensively embarrassed by his failure to get his party’s support to deliver on his promise to Indonesia?

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to Senator Evans for the question. My understanding of this matter is that the proposed meeting between the Prime Minister and the President will take place. There has certainly been nothing conveyed to say that the meeting won’t take place. As far as the legislation is concerned, what the Prime Minister has said—and it is well known; it is well and truly a matter for public comment—is that he is working through the issues, as is my colleague Senator Vanstone, with a number of our colleagues who have concerns.

This is the democratic process, and it is something that we in fact not only welcome but subscribe to. Quite frankly, I would not have thought that whether or not the legislation to give effect to the changes in the migration laws is passed is the issue. The issue is that we understand, as we have said over the last couple of days, that the legislation is being passed having some regard to the views of Indonesia simply because of the role it plays in our border protection arrangements and in no way because we would change our law for any reasons other than for our own policy purposes, which is precisely the way in which it has been enunciated over the past few days by Senator Vanstone and others: it is all about our border protection.

My understanding is that the meeting will take place. I would not see the passage of the legislation as conditional upon the meeting taking place. I would have thought the fact that these discussions will still take place is simply an indication that Australia and Indonesia, while we have our respective moments as nations, are getting on with doing important work in the region. We are very conscious, from Australia’s perspective, of keeping our borders secure.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the minister for her answer, but she did not go to the central point. I ask again: wasn’t Indonesia’s acceptance of next Monday’s meeting with our Prime Minister the result of very tortuous and placating diplomacy involving rushing the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs to a special meeting and meetings between Minister Downer and the minister for foreign affairs of Indonesia? Isn’t it a fact that Indonesia’s acceptance of the meeting was based on the Prime Minister’s promise to deliver changes to our immigration laws? Won’t the Prime Minister be totally humiliated if he cannot deliver on his appeasement promise to Indonesia before he attends the meeting on Monday?

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for the supplementary question. The answers to Senator Evans’s three questions are: no, no and no.