Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What matters, Senator McGauran, is how we respond. The Rudd government’s response will be calm and measured. In addition to strong border security measures to deter and detect unauthorised arrivals, the Rudd government regularly engages in the region to address people-smuggling issues. Last month we met with the Indonesian minister for law and human rights for the third time this year. None of the former ministers from the previous government managed this many meetings with such an important neighbour over the last three years of the coalition government, when the numbers of unauthorised boat arrivals were much greater than they are today. In those discussions we agreed on a number of proposals. (Time expired)