Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome today's news that the Murugappan family—four-year-old Tharnicaa and six-year-old Kopika and their parents, Priya and Nades—will be reunited in Perth and will be allowed to live in the community, not behind razor wire in an offshore prison, for the time being. But this is not good enough. Today's decision by the government to bring the Murugappan family from the Christmas Island prison to Perth was nothing but a political decision designed only to deal with the public relations nightmare this case has become for the prime marketer—sorry, I mean Prime Minister—Scott Morrison. The Murugappans are still not allowed to return to their home and their community in Biloela, a community that is desperate to have them back. This decision means that the Murugappans are still in legal limbo, unable to get on with their lives. This decision means that the Murugappans are still at the whim of Australia's sickening and inhumane immigration policy, which put Tharnicaa in hospital with pneumonia. The Morrison government could end this cruelty for the Murugappans today, right now, with just the stroke of a pen, and allow them to go back to their home and community in Biloela permanently.

I note that the Labor Party is calling on the Morrison government to intervene in this case to allow the Murugappans to stay in Australia. I welcome this from Labor. But the reality is that Labor is in lock step with the Morrison government on the cruel treatment of people seeking refuge or asylum. The reality is that it shouldn't be left up to the minister's discretion to intervene in a case just because the politics requires it. The reality is that this country's refugee policies should be humane to begin with. This means no offshore prisons. This means no indefinite detention. This means no denial of medical care to a three-year-old and leaving her with a potentially life-threatening illness.

The reality is that, if the Murugappans arrived in Australia by boat today, Labor's policy would see them imprisoned indefinitely on Nauru or Manus Island. That's not a reality the Australian Greens accept. But that's the reality that the Labor Party accepts. We all know that great quote: 'The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.' As a senator or member of parliament, that means how you vote, not how big your talk is and not how many nice pictures you take for your social media holding '#hometobilo' signs. I say this to Labor: the standard you vote for is the standard you accept. Labor has voted to keep innocent people like Tharnicaa, Kopika, Priya and Nades locked up in offshore prisons like Manus Island and Nauru.

As First Nations people, we know what it's like to be forced out of our homes. We know what it's like to be stolen from our families and communities. We know what it's like for us and our children to be robbed of our future. As a First Nations person, I say to the Murugappan family: 'You are welcome in my country, no matter if you came here by boat or by plane.' I stand here in this place day in and day out as a First Nations senator surrounded by senators, most of whose ancestors came to this country by a boat. As a First Nations person, I say to the Murugappan family, to Tharni, to Kopika, to Priya and to Nades: 'You are welcome on this land, the land of my ancestors who've been here for over 60,000 years. We won't stop fighting for you and your family and for other people seeking asylum to have a future in this country.' That's the only reality the Australian Greens will accept, and we'll always stand with those that are being targeted by this government.