Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

That is amazing, because the Liberal Party and the coalition have completely changed their position over the past two to three months. This is a complete U-turn. They have finally found another scare campaign they can run. The facts tell the story, Senator Fierravanti-Wells. Let’s go back to it. Let’s look at what the member for Murray, the shadow spokesperson for immigration, said on 2UE on 19 January this year:

Well certainly Rudd’s Government has continued with the excised migration zones. They’ve also continued with what was originally a Labor-introduced policy of mandatory detention—

That is right—

They’re using the Christmas Island detention centre, which we built.

What did she say on 2SM on 1 December? Listen to this, senators. She probably did not think anyone was listening:

Labor is echoing very much what we did; it’s just that they seem very reluctant to loudly and clearly state into the region, look, we still do have excised zones for migration purposes.

That was the Liberal shadow minister. She went on to say:

They also still of course have mandatory detention until you can prove the identity of the people. I don’t think we need—