Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Evans. I refer to the minister’s media release of 23 October 2009, in which he stated:

… the vast majority of claims are being dealt with in about 100 days.

Less than a month later, the government offered those aboard the Oceanic Viking a special deal of resettlement within 28 to 42 days. How does the Rudd government expect those who are in immigration detention or the Australian public to have any confidence in our immigration system when it appears that the government is making policy on the run, with special deals and fast-tracked processing?

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

I thank Senator Back for the question. It is, of course, similar to questions I received all last week and this week, which are based on an assertion that there is a special deal in relation to those who disembarked the Oceanic Viking. As I have been at pains to report to the Senate the disembarkation of the Oceanic Viking passengers in Indonesia was agreed between the Australian and Indonesian governments as a way of dealing with those persons who were rescued at sea in the Indonesian search and rescue zone.

Under those arrangements, we agreed with the Indonesians as to what would happen when those people disembarked. We did not suggest they be processed on the ship, as suggested by Dr Stone, the opposition spokesperson. We did not agree to bring them directly to Australia, as suggested by Colin Barnett, the Western Australian premier. We said they needed to disembark in Indonesia. Finally, they agreed to disembark in Indonesia and have gone into Indonesian detention, where they will be processed.

They will be processed in accordance with the agreements between the two governments. Those processes have commenced; UNHCR is conducting those processes in the normal way, and those processes will find that those who are found to be refugees will be resettled in accordance with UNHCR processes. Those who are found not to be refugees will be returned by the Indonesian government to their country of origin. That is what they have stated publicly and that is the position that the Australian government adopts as well, and I expect that to occur.

All those processes are normal processes that are applied in Indonesia, and the treatment of those off the Oceanic Viking is part of the arrangements made with the Indonesian government. The processes for those currently found not to be refugees are not dissimilar to those standard ones.

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I refer the minister to assertions by, amongst others, Dennis Shanahan and Paul Kelly from the Australian

Government Senators:

Government senators interjecting—

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But wait! There’s more.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is more, Mr President. Tony Wright and Josh Gordon of the Age, Annabel Crabb from the Sydney Morning Herald and even Barrie Cassidy of the ABC all report the existence of a special deal affording preferential treatment to those aboard the Oceanic Viking.

Government Senators:

Government senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Back, stop there. Senators on my right, I need to hear the question. I need silence. Continue, Senator Back.

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Will the minister now finally admit the existence of a special deal and this pattern of spin and deceit over Labor’s approach to border protection?

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

The answer to the last part of the question is no, Mr President. I remind the Senator that to develop policy or come to conclusions purely based on what a couple of journalists have written or said is not a very sound approach, because as I understand it, Mr President, all those journalists are agreed on one other matter—that is, that the Liberal opposition are a complete rabble, that they are divided, that they are undermining their leader, that Senator Minchin is in open revolt in defiance of his leader and that they are a standing joke in Australian politics. If Senator Back wants to rely on the combined opinions of certain journalists, I refer him to their views on his and his colleagues’ performance. Senator, none of this is a replacement for development of sound policy and prosecution of that policy. (Time expired)

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Today the Australian reports that a team of five Australian immigration officers has been assembled from posts around the region to process the claims of the 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers. Is this yet further evidence of a special deal and border protection on the run?

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

It is, in fact, not an indication of a special deal as claimed. I will remind Senator Back of when these mobile teams were used previously. They were used from 2003 for operations in Beirut, Nairobi, Pretoria, Cairo, Bangkok and Jakarta. Who was in government in 2003? I cannot recall. This is standard practice that has been applied in a range of cases as it has been applied tens of times by the former government. It is standard immigration practice to support Indonesia, and just because the Australian reports it as part of the quota of asylum seeker stories it is required to file each day does not mean that it is newsworthy. I remind you that the only time there has not been a front page story about asylum seekers in the last few weeks, to the best of my knowledge, was the day the people came off the Oceanic Viking. Putting that to one side, this is standard practice that has been used on many occasions. (Time expired)