Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is—surprise!—to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Evans. I refer to the special deal offered by the Rudd Labor government to bribe asylum seekers off the Oceanic Viking. Will this same special deal now be extended to all those other asylum seekers who have been assessed as refugees by the UNHCR and who have been waiting for years in the queue?

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

While it was not unexpected that Senator Fierravanti-Wells would ask me a question, I am a bit surprised it is the same one she asked on Monday and Tuesday—

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is because you did not answer it on Monday or Tuesday.

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

and therefore I will give her the same answer. The answer is that there is no special deal. What there is is an arrangement between us and the Indonesian government, which was codified and presented to those on board, as to what would happen to those on board under those arrangements between the two governments for their processing. We rejected the demand of those on board the Oceanic Viking that they be taken to Australia. We rejected that. They sought to have themselves taken to Christmas Island. We rejected that.

There are only two special deals that I have heard of. One was proposed by the opposition spokesperson, Sharman Stone, who suggested that they ought to get special treatment and they ought to be processed on the boat. She was quoted as saying that there comes a point in time when you can very humanely bring the UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, on board. For heaven’s sake—let them assess on board whether the people are legitimate or not! So the only special deal proposed is that proposed by the opposition. We insisted that they come ashore before they were processed. The other special deal was that offered by the Liberal Premier of Western Australia, who suggested that they be brought straight to Australia. So the only ones calling for a special deal are in fact the opposition. We negotiated with the Indonesian government the arrangements that would apply when those on board disembarked in Indonesia. We insisted on them disembarking there. We are hopeful that they all will. Once they disembark there they will have the normal UNHCR assessment processes apply to them in the timeframes agreed between us and the Indonesian government.

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. For the third time this week, Minister, you did not answer my question, but I will try another tack. I refer to a report in the Australian of 17 November 2009, which stated:

The Oceanic Viking Sri Lankans are being quarantined from other detainees in the Australian-funded detention centre in Tanjung Pinang, with authorities conscious that the special deal is causing resentment—

amongst other asylum seekers. Is the government aware that there has been so much concern about the special deal given to those on the Oceanic Viking that it is not only causing angst amongst those who have been waiting in the detention centre but also threatening the safety of the queuejumpers themselves?

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

The first thing I always advise senators to do is to be careful quoting press reports. They are not always 100 per cent accurate.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

I understand that the 22 taken off the Oceanic Viking have been housed in a separate section of the detention centre to the other detainees. That is a decision of the Indonesian government. These people have been detained by them in an Indonesian facility under Indonesian law. I make the point in passing that we do the same thing when we disembark a group at Christmas Island. We actually keep them separate while the interview processes occur, and I remind you that the Howard government, when in power, did exactly the same thing; it processed groups off boats separately. So it is common practice (Time expired)

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am aware of that, but, Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Won’t the special deal given to the queuejumpers who have held the Oceanic Viking to ransom simply further encourage people smugglers and make their promises of assured permanent residency in Australia even more attractive? How many more boats, failed solutions and special deals will it take before Labor decides to roll up the red carpet?

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

Making emotive and loaded statements is no replacement for policy and dealing with complex problems. All this talk about queuejumpers and laying out the red carpet is a nonsense. What the asylum seekers now on the Oceanic Viking sought to do was to be brought to Australia. They asked to be brought to Australia. We said ‘No, they would be taken to Indonesia and they would be disembarked in Indonesia and treated according to international law and be assessed by the UNHCR.’ I assume the opposition is not suggesting now that we should have brought them direct to Christmas Island, although their spokesperson has suggested special treatment. The alternatives were to bring them to Australia or take them to Indonesia. If your criticism is that we should have brought them to Australia, say so. But I suspect you would support the decision that we took to take them to Indonesia.