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

In this matter, as in so many others, the opposition simply ignores the facts. And then we have turning back the boats. This, to my mind, is the worst policy of all—the most ill-thought-out, the most ridiculous and, frankly, the most dangerous policy that the opposition has. There are a number of elements about this policy. Firstly, it underlines the abject hypocrisy of those who sit opposite. The opposition say: 'It's a terrible thing to negotiate protections with Malaysia and it's a terrible thing to ensure that those standards are protected and to then return people by aeroplane to Malaysia, because Malaysia is not a signatory to the refugee convention, but it is okay to turn a boat around and send it to Indonesia, which is not a signatory to the refugee convention, with no protections negotiated. And, by the way, we're not going to check who is on the boat. We're not going to check whether there are women and children and where they're from. We're not even going to check where they're fleeing from and who they're claiming asylum from. We're not going to check and see if that means we are fulfilling our obligations under the refugee convention.' Nothing! That, more than anything else, underlines the abject hypocrisy of the opposition and how ill thought out their policy is.

Secondly, their policy is completely unworkable because, once again, there is a little technical detail—these technical details do crop up, to the annoyance of the shadow minister and the Leader of the Opposition—and that is that Indonesia will not take them. The Indonesian government has made that crystal clear. This is not in relation to our policy, because we are not proposing that. The opposition say: 'That's okay. I'd go up and see them; I'd negotiate it.' The opposition really rate their ability to negotiate with countries in our region. But the Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs has made it clear—not in relation to this side of the House but in relation to your policy—that he would not accept it and that it would not be acceptable to the government or the people of Indonesia.

Thirdly, and most importantly, this policy is dangerous. This is a policy which would risk the lives of Australian naval personnel, as well as asylum seekers. The member for Cook says, 'We'd do it when it was safe.' I have news for the member for Cook: it is never safe; it will never be safe. The member for Cook says: 'Admiral Griggs gave evidence to Senate estimates that it had been done. That was the entirety of his advice: "It was done once." That was the complete advice that Admiral Griggs gave to Senate estimates.' Well, the member for Cook is wrong; he is misinformed. Perhaps the member for Cook missed Admiral Griggs's evidence, because Admiral Griggs made it very clear that he had been involved in turning around the boats and that it was a dangerous activity that put at risk the lives of Australian naval personnel and the asylum seekers themselves.

I say this is serious because there are people's lives at stake; these are the lives of our naval personnel. The response of the member for Cook to the advice of Australia's most senior sailor, the Chief of the Australian Navy, is to come up with a fatuous one-liner about people on the roofs of detention centres. He would ignore the advice of the Australian Navy, and he justifies that with a fatuous and cheap one-liner. That is what this opposition has been reduced to. We have people's lives at stake, and we had consistent advice to this government that turning around boats on the high seas is a dangerous policy which would risk the lives of Australia naval personnel, and all the member for Cook can do is come up with a one-liner.

We do not know who would actually make the decision. The opposition say, 'When it's safe to do so.' The opposition's election policy was that Mr Abbott, if he were elected to the office of Prime Minister, would make that decision himself on the 'boat phone' from Kirribilli House. And then recently the Leader of the Opposition said it would actually be the naval personnel who would make the decision. And then the member for Cook said, 'We'll take responsibility,' which I assume means that he would make the decision. So we are not really sure who would make the decision as to when it was safe.

This is a sham. But the opposition's policy is well known and clear, and I accept that. We do believe that they should have the right to implement it. We do believe that, if they were to form office, they should have the right to implement their policy. That is why we introduced legislation into the House to give the government of the day the power to implement its policies.

Mr Morrison interjecting—

The member for Cook says, 'We only moved one amendment, one teensy little amendment, one tiny amendment'—one amendment which would derail the government's policy!

Opposition members interjecting—

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