Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

That is the case. In 2004 and 2005 there were no arrivals. They say, ‘There were no push factors.’ What section of the world are you looking at? There are continual push factors. If you were making an argument on push factors then you could make them on the situation in sub Saharan Africa, on civil war in Angola or genocide in southern Sudan. There are also a whole range of people on the Thai-Burma border. These people constantly want to get themselves into a position of safety or into a position where there is economic improvement in their lives. It is not fair to the Karen who have been pushed out by the Burmese that we just say, ‘Oh, well, it’s a shame you couldn’t get yourself to Indonesia and get yourself onto a boat because then you could have come in 90 days and with no questions asked.’

The Labor Party has created this problem and Mr Rudd is looking completely unauthentic. He is looking indecisive and, to be honest, hypocritical. He is trying to ride both sides of the fence on this issue and it just does not ring true. Before the election, Mr Rudd delivered rhetoric to the Australian people that showed that he thought he could run a compassionate argument—but run it with a wink and a nod. He hoped that everything would stay under control. Now he has found that he appears neither compassionate in his delivery to the Australian people nor decisive in trying to actually fix the problem. His policy has become a sort of quagmire policy—one of hope in which he is pleading that the neighbours, that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will fix this problem. It is not the President of Indonesia’s problem; it is Australia’s problem, and Australia has to fix it.

No wonder the Indonesians are getting frustrated. They are saying: ‘It is your issue. They are jumping over your fence. You are the ones complaining about it. Fix your own problems. Don’t come over to Indonesia and say we have to fix your problems.’ So it is looking like a complete mess. It is an absolute mess and it is going to make its way onto the international stage even more than it already is. We will have this big yellow and blue fiasco that will continue on until such time as this government manage to grasp the nettle, become decisive, make changes and prove to the Australian people that they can protect our nation’s borders.