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

In answer to the member's question about the 800—I have provided that answer—can I say to the member: the thing he will be required to vote on is whether government should have the power to implement the offshore processing plan that it believes to be best. That is what the member will be voting on. I would say to the member that, if he believes that government in this country should have the ability to process asylum seekers in an offshore location, then he should vote for that. What he should certainly not do is put himself on a destructive path of wrecking the ability of this nation to have asylum seekers processed offshore. He should not do that. It is not in the national interest to do so.

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