Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

This is a motion to suspend standing orders to censure this Prime Minister. This Prime Minister has scurried from the chamber. Not only does this government not listen to the expressed will of the parliament; this Prime Minister will not even listen to debate in this parliament, and nothing could condemn the attitude of this Prime Minister more than the fact that she will not even sit in this parliament while questions of parliamentary sovereignty are debated. Shame on this Prime Minister!

Why is this Prime Minister running away from the parliament? I will tell you why: she is running away from the parliament because she has lost control of the parliament. There could be no more important matter for this House to debate right now than the utter shambles which is the government's policy on border protection, the utter shambles which is the government's Malaysian people-swap policy.

In the end, this motion is not about the policy of the government. This is about the sovereignty of the parliament. Mr Speaker, let me remind you what the House passed today. The House passed a resolution moved by the honourable member for Melbourne that (1) condemns the Gillard government's deal with Malaysia that would see 800 asylum seekers intercepted in Malaysian waters and sent to Malaysia, and (2) calls on the government to immediately abandon this proposal. That is what this parliament has done today. It has called on the government to immediately abandon this proposal. Whatever you think of the government's policy, the issue is the parliament has called on the government to abandon the policy. So this is about the sovereignty of the parliament and I ask this question, which ought to resonate right around this country: why is this Prime Minister so scared to listen to the parliament and the people of Australia?

The parliament and the people of Australia are sending a very clear message to this government and to this Prime Minister: this Malaysian people swap is just not on. It is just not on because it is cruel, it is costly and it will be ineffective. We know that members opposite are equally concerned about the government's policy on this matter. We know that members opposite have been raising this matter in caucus. We know that members opposite are very concerned that people will be sent from Australia to Malaysia, not to enjoy the standards of care and concern that they would get in an Australian processing centre but to be exposed to the norms of the Malaysian criminal justice system. And this parliament has stood up for Australian values, this parliament has stood up for Australian decency and this parliament has stood up for Australia taking proper responsibility for the people who come to these shores and now this weak, inept and soulless government is defying the will of this parliament. That is why standing orders should be suspended.

I say again that nothing could be more contemptible than the failure of this Prime Minister to sit in this parliament and listen to this debate. What is wrong with the Prime Minister of this country that she will not at least listen to debate? She may not like what is being said but, as the Prime Minister of this country, she really has a duty to listen to it. Why is the Prime Minister scared of debate? Why is the Prime Minister scared of the parliament?

This is a government which has lost control of the parliament. This is a government which has lost control of our borders. This is a government which has clearly lost its own soul—and don't members opposite know it! This is a government which is proposing to do to people who arrive on the shores of this country something that if even contemplated for a second by the Howard government would have been condemned up hill and down dale; every refugee advocate in this country would have been condemning this as the cruellest and the least humane thing that had ever been done in the history of this country. I have to say that, to their credit, some of those selfsame refugee advocates are now saying much the same thing about this government.

The problem with the Malaysian people swap is that the Malaysian government will control the people who are coming to their country, the Malaysian government is saying, quite understandably, 'We will control who comes to our country and the circumstances under which they will come.' That is what the Malaysian government is saying, and the Malaysian government is further saying, 'If they come to our country they will be treated in accordance with Malaysian standards of justice, no-one else's'—and we know what they are. I am not critical of the Malaysian government imposing its standards of justice on people in that country, but I am critical of this government for imposing on people who have come to this country the standards of justice of another country. This is why this Prime Minister is wrong and this is why the parliament has made the judgment that it made today—and this is why for defying the judgment the Prime Minister deserves to be condemned.

There is a better way. It is a way that this parliament could well consider but has not yet considered. The better way is a way which is more humane, which is more cost effective and which is certainly more proven; that is, to reopen the processing centre in Nauru. That is what this government should do. I have been to Nauru. I did not rely on someone else to assure me that this could be effectively done. I have seen where boat people will be accommodated—and well accommodated. I have seen where boat people's children will be educated—and well educated. I have seen the police headquarters which will deal with security issues involving boat people in Nauru. And I can tell you this, Mr Speaker: there are no rotans in Nauru and there are no whipping posts in Nauru. There is no need for boat people sent to Nauru to be tagged, as if tagging would somehow save them from cruel and inhumane treatment. So I say, first of all, shame on this government for a cruel and inhumane policy but, most of all, shame on this government for defying the will of this parliament. This parliament has expressed its view of the government's policy. Now I say, and I say it particularly to the member for Melbourne, it is time to punish this government for defying the will of the parliament.

See this speech in context