Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a fact. How many members of the opposition formed a committee to work together to find a solution? Two, and what happened to those two? You physically restrained one from crossing the floor. This is not about you trying to find a solution; this is about you trying to find votes. For the last hour we have heard rubbish about this. There are 40 members who wish to speak on this legislation. This is just a gloat. Not one speaker has been able to, nor will they be able to point to where the report says that what they said is right. I am happy to give the next speaker a copy of the report, to read what it says.

We hear about turning back the boats. The Leader of the Opposition says, 'I don't care what the leader of Indonesia says; 'I'm going to turn back the boats,' knowing full well he cannot do it. That is right: you shake your head and say no because he cannot do it. The Leader of the Opposition is going to Indonesia, one of our closest neighbours and trading partners, to say, 'I don't care what you say; I'm going to turn the boats back.' That is an absolute furphy. The Navy have said no, the former Chief of the Defence Force has said no, but you get up and say, 'We can do that. We are so much better than the rest of the world, those of us in the Liberal opposition.' Even though the Indonesian government reiterated on 10 July that they would not permit boats containing asylum seekers to be turned around, Tony Abbott says the coalition government will turn them back without permission.

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