Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Kingston for her question and for what is a very genuine and real interest in the issue, which she has discussed with me on many occasions. She is clearly very aware of the complexities of dealing with this on a regional basis but is very supportive of the progress that has been made.

The honourable member asked about the development of the regional cooperation framework. Earlier this year, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and I attended the Bali ministerial meeting. Officials who have been involved in these meetings for many years, since their instigation, said to me that more progress had been made at that meeting than at all the previous meetings combined in terms of reaching an agreement on a way forward for a regional framework. All 44 nations participating in that conference agreed with a regional framework which outlined that this is a regional issue requiring a regional response and outlined the possibility of bilateral agreements within the regional framework. The Bali communique, for example, indicated the possibility of transfer arrangements, which is one that this government has pursued with Malaysia in consultation with the UNHCR.

The UNHCR are very important in these matters because they are, in many respects, the guardians of the appropriate way of dealing with refugees and asylum seekers around the world. So I have been very keen, as has the Malaysian government, to ensure participation and consultation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Those opposite have claimed that the UNHCR endorses their approach, and that has been a false claim. We have seen the Deputy Leader of the Opposition claim that, we have seen senators claim that and we have seen the UNHCR have to come out and repudiate that, which I think is very unfortunate. I am more than happy for a robust debate around these issues, but it must be based on fact. When one side of the parliament claims that the UNHCR—

Mr Morrison interjecting—

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