Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would need to be Tim Winton, my famous though humble constituent, to put the feeling properly into words—the dismay I felt when I heard our Prime Minister say, 'Nope, nope, nope,' to the notion of Australia resettling any of the miserable souls stranded friendless in the middle of the ocean off South-East Asia. As Hadi Zaher wrote in New Matilda, this incident was reminiscent of the fate of the Jewish refugees on the MS St Louis who were refused entry to Cuba, the US and Canada and forced to return to Europe, where many of them perished in concentration camps.

It is exceedingly rare to have nations in the region—Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand—specifically ask for our help. Yet, when they do, instead of taking the opportunity to develop a true regional protection framework, we turn our back—thus damaging our credibility and standing in the region, as well as the hope for a longer term solution. The Refugee Council of Australia made some recommendations to government ahead of last Friday's special regional meeting in Bangkok:

1. Offer logistical and financial assistance to nations rescuing boat arrivals …

2. Negotiate resettlement places for refugees …

3. Encourage dialogue and commit financial resources to addressing causes of migrant and refugee flows … human rights conditions in Burma, economic and social development in Bangladesh and constructive action to tackle human trafficking.

4. Increase diplomatic pressure on Burma to address persecution of Rohingya …

5. Advocate for the establishment of UN human rights presence in Burma …

The government chose to ignore this sage advice, but it remains valid and available to the government should it decide that regional relationships and human decency are important after all.