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

I note that the senator says, ‘Shame.’ But, Senator, we have a number of obligations as a government and we intend to live up to all of them. One of them, as Australia is a signatory to the UN convention, is to make sure that if someone coming to Australia puts in an asylum claim they have their claim heard and that protection is offered. But you would know, Senator, that the UN convention does not say they have a right to indicate where the claim is heard and where the protection is offered.

We have that obligation. We also have border protection obligations and we have an obligation as a government to keep good relations with our strong and friendly neighbours—namely, Indonesia. Of course we do. So, yes, we have taken a policy position that will allow us to balance the three priorities that we have in this area. We are not like Ms Feller, from the UNHCR—an Australian—who has as probably the sole requirement of her employment to promote the very, very best rolled-gold practice for the UNHCR. That is her task—I respect her for it—but it is not mine. The government’s task is to live up to those three obligations: live up to our requirements under the convention, live up to border protection commitments to the Australian community and live up to our foreign affairs obligations to keep good and stable relationships with our neighbours. That includes making sure that Australia is not used as a staging point for protests about domestic issues in other countries.