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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs. In my home state of Victoria, people who sought the help of this country are being imprisoned in the Park Hotel. How can you justify locking up these innocent people for up to nine years when the vast majority of them have been recognised as refugees?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Thorpe for the question. Senator Thorpe, there is one thing that the Australian Greens and the Morrison-Joyce government disagree about, and that is in relation to the fundamental policy of border protection. You joined with the Labor Party last time and, as a result, the people that you are referring to in the alternative places of detention—they came to this country in contravention of our strong border protection laws. I reject any statement by you that in any way infers that they are locked up. We have made it very, very clear that the fundamental responsibility of a government is the protection of Australia and Australians.

The question asked by Senator Thorpe is a very, very telling one. It says to the Australian people that if, at the next election, they were to cast a vote, as Senator Seselja has said, for the Australian Labor Party, they will be governed in concert, just like last time, with the Australian Greens—for 50,000 people coming to this country illegally, for thousands of deaths at sea. We on this side of the chamber make no apologies for our border protection principles. A fundamental responsibility of any Commonwealth government must be the protection of Australia and Australians. In that regard, both the Australian Greens and the Australian Labor Party fail every time.

Slade Brockman (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Thorpe, a supplementary question?

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

Thank you, Mr President. Thank you, Minister, for your response. The only people who came here illegally were the people who came here 240 years ago on boats. Last month, the Prime Minister claimed that the people held in the Park Hotel are not refugees. Why did the Prime Minister lie about this?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

ator CASH (—) (): Senator Thorpe, I completely, totally and utterly reject your statement that the Prime Minister has lied. There are many things you can say about the Prime Minister, but he is a man who, when minister for immigration, was responsible for some of the strongest border protection policies this country will ever see.

As we move towards the next election—which, as we know, is in but a few months—this question highlights the fundamental difference, for all Australians, between the attitude of the Australian Greens, in coalition with the Australian Labor Party, and the attitude of the coalition government. Again, we will never make excuses for protecting Australia and Australians.

Slade Brockman (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Thorpe, a second supplementary question?

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

Thank you, Mr President; and thank you, Minister, for your response. Again, the only people who came here illegally were the people who came here 240 years ago on boats. What is the plan to release the remaining people who are being locked up and tortured at the Park Hotel prison?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't think there is a lot more that I can add to my answers. Again, Senator Thorpe, you actually show your disrespect for border protection policy in Australia by those comments. Governments are not torturing people, and any allegation that they are, as you know, is completely, totally and utterly untrue.