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

I again thank the honourable member for Murray for her question and I was simply drawing the House’s attention to the fact that yesterday a reasonable interpretation of her remarks was that the position of the Liberal Party was that this vessel should have been processed in Australia rather than Indonesia. That is the reverse position of the government. The agreement we have reached with the Indonesian government, given the circumstances where this boat was identified, in the Indonesian search and rescue area, and it having been permitted to then land at an Indonesian port, was that it should therefore be processed in Indonesia. That is our approach, in contrast to yours—absolutely clear. As for the immigration minister’s statements today, I have not seen them. I fully support the public and private comments of the immigration minister, including his remarks today on how this matter has been handled.

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