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

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. To assist the House I will withdraw. The member for Cook just said in his remarks then, ‘I told the truth.’ Can I ask the House to form their own independent judgement of the following. This morning on radio he said: ‘I should be upfront with people about that, Ray. When there was that massive surge of arrivals that occurred back in 1999, 2000 and 2001 we had to do that’—that is, accommodate people in hotels—‘when we were in government, for a brief period of time.’ What we now know from the facts is that this practice continued extensively in 2004, 2005 2006 and 2007. I would submit to the House that on any reasonable person’s reading this, in fact, was not a truthful statement.

The reason I highlight this point in this debate on asylum seekers is that it goes to the heart of the truthfulness in which they engage in this debate around the country right now, which is entirely fear based—a debate around the country which is designed to instil fear and intimidation in the community.

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