Amanda Vanstone (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for the question. Senator, you know full well that the arrangements made last year related to people in detention in Australia. You should also know, on the basis of plenty of media reporting, that the announced changes relate to unauthorised boat arrivals. They do not relate to all asylum seekers in Australia. I think the vast majority of asylum seekers in Australia will be people who have overstayed, got caught and thought: ‘Uh-oh! Put in a protection visa claim.’ The changes relate particularly to people coming unauthorised by boat, seeking asylum. They are not properly claimed as being refugees until their claim has been heard. Yes, we have decided that future unauthorised boat arrivals will have their claims, should they wish to make asylum claims, processed in Nauru and that we will seek to provide protection for them in other countries.