Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

It is a good question, because it goes to the heart of the reasons why we have reinvigorated the Bali process. We have a regional issue with unlawful movement among nations. Nations like Indonesia are saying that, as part of their commitment to action in the region, there ought to be a sharing of the burden of those persons moving through the region who are found to be refugees. That is why the previous government, the Howard government, sought to resettle people out of Indonesia, although in fairly small numbers. Of the 1,300 resettled in the last seven or eight years, 450 were resettled in Australia and the others in other resettlement countries.

Last year, I began negotiations with the Indonesians about how we should deal with the protracted caseloads that they had inside Indonesia. They have people there who have been assessed as refugees and who have not been referred for resettlement. As part of the Bali process, we have been discussing with the other governments involved how we should tackle these problems of people who are found to be refugees, people moving unlawfully and people-trafficking. There has been an increased commitment to resettle people out of Indonesia. We have made it clear that we and other resettlement countries will look to take more than we have in the past to assist them and share the burden of dealing with these problems around the region. They have committed to anti-people-smuggling measures. They have committed to the Bali process.