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

I am of course prepared to accept responsibility for my actions as Prime Minister, my actions as Deputy Prime Minister and my actions as a member of this government. I am prepared to do that every day that I am in this government. I accept responsibility for my actions.

I also believe that, if the Leader of the Opposition were dealing with this policy debate rather than seeking to deal with the politics of it, he would acknowledge that this policy debate has been a difficult one in the life of our nation. It is a difficult one—difficult for members of the Liberal Party who crossed the floor in relation to some measures of the former Howard government, difficult for members of the Labor Party who have struggled with their conscience. It is difficult for our nation as it is for nations around the world to work out the right set of policies in the face of what is really a transnational crime—people smuggling—that mutates and adapts to law enforcement strategies.

Yes, it challenges us. There is no doubt about that, and aspects of it are very hard. So what is the best thing you can do in an environment like that when it challenges you? You can be prepared to compromise, to think and to get things done. I am asking that of the opposition.

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