House debates

Thursday, 22 October 2009

Questions without Notice

Asylum Seekers

2:24 pm

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

As I said in response to a question in this place yesterday, this government makes no apology whatsoever for the fact that it is expanding its cooperation with the Indonesian government in the area of people smuggling. That is because we are dealing with a global problem and a regional problem which requires the highest level of coordination with our friends and partners in Indonesia. The honourable gentleman’s first part of his question dealt with who actually is responsible for the processing within Indonesia. That of course is a matter for the Indonesian government. I would imagine that would involve the office of the UNHCR as well. The outcome of that processing—where individuals are resettled, how long a period of time that takes or how many of those individuals are sent back to a country of origin—is, of course, contingent on a proper UNHCR approval process. That is why we cooperate in these matters with the Indonesian government—because we believe it is the right approach for the future.

The honourable member asked a question about the processing of asylum seekers in Indonesia and yesterday, when he asked questions, he went to the point of the source of the asylum seekers arriving, namely, his questions about Afghanistan. What I found remarkable about the question yesterday was how the Leader of the Opposition fundamentally misrepresented the statements made by the Minister for Defence about our policy on Afghanistan. Here is what the defence minister had to say yesterday in the interview which was referred to and then deployed in a particular way by the Leader of the Opposition.

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