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

I point out that it is one thing for a political party to change its position and develop its thinking; it is another thing for a political party to have two positions at the same time—for a political party to say, 'You can't send asylum seekers to a country that is not a refugee convention signatory,' at the same time as arguing with a straight face that they will turn the boats around and point them towards Indonesia, with no commitments negotiated, which is not a signatory to the refugee convention. The opposition seem to think they can run two positions at once and walk different sides of the street on this issue. They say we are too tough, and then we are too soft. They say that the refugee convention is not important, and then that it is fundamental. The opposition think they can run two positions at once. I think the Australian people see through the hypocrisy of the opposition.

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