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

I thank the member for Petrie for her question. It invites me to talk about the government's policies for offshore processing. It also invites me to talk about the process the government has been involved in, particularly since the High Court case was announced. Since the High Court case was announced, the government has worked to bring legislation to this parliament which would enable executive government to make decisions about offshore processing—that is, to bring legislation to this parliament that would give this government and future governments the same freedom of action the Howard government had when it determined that it would have asylum seekers transferred to PNG and Nauru—one of those countries being a refugee signatory country and one of those countries not being a refugee signatory country.

In the process since, we have sought to keep the opposition advised and informed. First there was a question of what the High Court case meant. So the government obtained the opinion of the Solicitor-General on the High Court case—in fact, two separate opinions: its meaning in general and its meaning in relation to unaccompanied minors—and released them publicly. At that time, the Leader of the Opposition was saying, 'If the government have legal advice, let them release it,' and we did. Then, of course, the Leader of the Opposition was saying that he was trying to work with me at that point:

I am trying to give her—

the Prime Minister—

the chance to give this country a border protection policy. The ball is in her court, I hope she’ll return it.

Then I wrote offering a briefing and the Leader of the Opposition wrote back saying he would like to have that briefing, and it was made available for him in Brisbane at his request.

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