Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I was making the point that the next election is perhaps 900 days away and it would be strange to see such bizarre and irrational behaviour every single day for the next 900 days.

This bill builds on the government's strong measures to ensure this nation has an orderly immigration system. We understand that those who risk their lives on the high seas to seek asylum in Australia are genuinely desperate people. That is why the Gillard government seeks to treat these asylum seekers with dignity and respect. It is also why we are working with Malaysia and Papua New Guinea to break the people smugglers' business model and deter people from taking that dangerous journey. Looking at the footage of SIEV221, it is quite horrendous to see the decisions people make when their circumstances are such that they will risk everything to have an opportunity in a wonderful country like Australia. Our momentous arrangement with Malaysia means there is no guarantee that any asylum seekers arriving by boat will be processed and resettled in Australia. This will break the people smugglers' business model, and should save lives. Negotiations with Malaysia are continuing, but already the Malaysian government has agreed to treat asylum seekers in accordance with agreed human rights standards. Importantly, Malaysia has also agreed not to send any genuine refugees back to face persecution in their country of origin. That is our obligation under the refugee convention and that is Malaysia's commitment under this bilateral agreement.

Obviously there is no quick fix; three word slogans are not the answer; there is no simple solution. Resettling refugees is a massive worldwide challenge that demands Australia play its part, and I am proud to say that we have done a bit over the years. At the end of 2009 there were an estimated 43.3 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, including 15.2 million refugees, 983,000 asylum seekers and 27.1 million internally displaced persons—that is more than the population of Australia.

As long as conflicts continue around the world and various countries go through political or military upheaval, we will unfortunately continue to see refugees crying out for help. That is a reality that those opposite and those on this side of the House both know. When there is war the normal process is for families to flee from it. That is what people do to protect their children and give them an opportunity. That is why an Arab spring here means a winter of despair there; that is why a freedom fighter's advance here means a family fleeing there. That is the reality of war and it is the same as it has always been. That is why the Prime Minister's announcement to increase our refugee intake as part of the agreement with Malaysia is such an important step forward in our kind and practical response to the international refugee crisis.

When our foreign minister and immigration minister talk to ministers from Italy and other countries in Europe, they say that on any one day there can be more people arriving on Italy's shores than arrive in Australia in a whole year. Nevertheless, it is an immutable tenet of respective Australian governments that we must have secure borders—whether it be putting cannons at Sydney Heads to keep the Russians out or our White Australia policy or all of those various things that we have done in our history: Australians are obsessed with this notion. However, the reality is we only have around 22 million people here. When you look out beyond our northern beaches, we have 11 per cent of the globe to patrol. Even if we had all 22 million people out there in dinghies, we would not be able to defend the borders.

I thank the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship for introducing this bill and welcome the measures to deter criminal and violent behaviour in our immigration detention centres. I commend the bill to the House.

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