Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I was explaining what the government has always sought to achieve here. Then, when the High Court made its decision, which was unexpected, the government still seeks to achieve the same objectives that it wanted to achieve from the start. That now requires us to legislate and to amend the Migration Act to put beyond doubt that the executive government has the power to implement offshore processing arrangements.

Now, there is inevitably more than one way to draft a set of amendments. When the opposition was briefed on Friday a draft set of amendments was provided, and when they were provided in the discussion in the meeting it was clear that there was more than one way of achieving this objective. The Leader of the Opposition expressed concern about some matters. In the new draft I believe he will see additional clarity on the matters about which he expressed concern. The Leader of the Opposition has said to me that he will now consider those amendments and I believe that to be highly appropriate.

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