Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. It shows the sensitivity of those opposite that they do not like being reminded of their record. They lied about the children overboard affair. They lied in a petty attempt to win an election. They claimed that parents were throwing their children overboard. And they are doing it again right now. In this bill we have nothing but politics. We have an attempt by a desperate government that is struggling because of its internal divisions because they knocked off a prime minister and did not have a new agenda. They go to their old drawcard—their old well—of politicising asylum seekers to try and wring some political advantage.

That is all this bill is about. There is no policy justification for this bill.

You only have to look at comments by the conservative Prime Minister of New Zealand that go to that. John Key—no friend of Labor—has stated quite clearly that this bill makes third-party resettlement harder. This bill makes third-party resettlement harder because it entails creating two classes of citizens in the countries that will be logical resettlement places for those found to be genuine asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru. Why would the New Zealand Prime Minister, the United States President or the Canadian Prime Minister agree to the creation of two classes of citizens? The general population of New Zealand can travel here quite freely, unencumbered by restrictions, if they are coming as tourists—in fact, it is quite broad for New Zealand citizens—but there would be a second class of citizens, being people who happen to be genuine refugees and who have resettled in New Zealand. That is the policy substance of this bill, and it has been blown away by John Key with very little effort.

This bill is purely about politics from a political party that has an appalling record on that. I will not be lectured about the drowning deaths that occurred during the Rudd-Gillard government's time by a party that voted against the Malaysia solution. It is a party that voted against the Malaysia solution that would have closed down that trade and saved the lives of at least 600 of those poor, innocent souls. I will not be lectured by a party that lied about asylum seekers, that politicised the Defence Force, that voted against the Malaysia solution and that is now participating in this nasty politics. That is all this is about. Stopping people who are found to be genuine refugees and who might be resettled in Western countries from coming here as tourists in 40 years will not deter the people-smuggling trade. It will not do anything other than try to wedge the Labor Party. I am particularly proud of the Labor Party for standing up to this.

On the issue of permanent resettlement of those who arrive by boat in Australian waters, there is a unity ticket. Both sides are in firm agreement that those people will not be resettled in this country. That unity ticket was established in 2013, and nothing has changed. This bill does not change it. Labor's policy was confirmed at our last national conference. It was confirmed by the policy that we took to the last election. I am very confident that, if we happen to win the next election, it will continue to be the practice. That unity ticket is very important to making sure that we have a generous and open migration system in this country and a very strong humanitarian intake, but it is founded on the principle that unauthorised boat arrivals will not be resettled in this country.

This bill does not change that. All this bill does is make third-party resettlement harder. All it does is try to make two classes of citizens overseas. Why? It is because this government is desperate. This government is desperate to distract from its sordid political agenda—a political agenda that has no political support—based on $48 billion worth of tax cuts to companies while it is cutting the pensions of hundreds of thousands of Australians. This is why it is trying to do this. This is from a Prime Minister who used to like to don a leather jacket, go on Q&A and pretend to be the darling of the doctors' wives. He was the small 'l' liberal and all that. Now, in a desperate attempt to hold off the member for Warringah, he has appealed to the far right of his own political party and One Nation. You have to be worried when Pauline Hanson is accusing the Prime Minister of stealing a policy of theirs. This is exactly what we are seeing on this bill. Senator Hanson is claiming credit for this bill. What next from this political party in a vain attempt to hold onto power?

The truth is this bill does not do anything to aid resettlement and get those people out of detention on Manus and Nauru. All it does is attempt to distract the Australian people. We will see speaker after speaker on the other side try to argue something else, but the truth is they cannot. I am yet to hear a substantive case from anyone over there that this bill aids third-party resettlement or that there is any intelligence that people smugglers are arguing that there is somehow any hope of resettlement in this country for people arriving by boat.

I am particularly proud that the Labor Party is opposing this. I am proud that we are saying that this does not aid border security and that this does not encourage the prevention of people smuggling. We are saying that this is a cynical and desperate attempt to wedge the progressive forces in Australian politics. It is a cynical and desperate attempt to wedge the Labor Party, and we say, 'No more.' We say that we will not be lectured about border security from the party of the kids-overboard affair. We will stand up for strong border security. We will stand up for not only protecting our borders but also, at the same time, a much broader and a much more sophisticated policy around refugees. It is a policy that included $450 million to aid the UNHCR to deal with the 60 million displaced humans around the globe, an increase in the humanitarian intake to 28,000 people and a much broader policy that really would have not only ensured that the people smugglers stayed out of business but also demonstrated that we could do that while having a broader refugee policy and really playing our part as a global citizen. There is a global refugee crisis at the moment—60 million people, as I said—around the world, and we have to play our role in that process.

This bill does not do anything to aid that. All it is is a cynical and desperate attempt to distract from the government's troubles. I proudly oppose this bill. I am proud of the Labor Party that stood up and said, 'This bill is ridiculous, desperate and cynical, and we will not stand up for it.' I am very proud to oppose this bill.

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