Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (Senator Evans) to questions without notice asked by Senator Brandis today, relating to asylum seekers.

The questions provided by Senator Brandis were very clear. They were questions that the minister should have expected, given that an identical question was asked the day before and clearly not answered.

What we had was a spray of indignation from the other side, which talked about the low road and about base politics and which basically did not answer the question. We would have thought that the minister would have been able to provide answers to an absolutely essential question about the number of deaths and the circumstances surrounding the reporting of the number of deaths. I quote from Tuesday’s Sydney Daily Telegraph:

The constant arrival of claimed asylum seekers off Australia’s northern coastline comes with a dreadful toll.

More than 150 men, women and children, lured by the promises of people-smugglers and a belief that Australia offers easy sanctuary, have drowned at sea since 2008.

It clearly makes the connection between policy and an outcome.

It is very sad that we saw, in what can be described as no better than an artifice of indignation, the minister, who has become an absolute high priest of hypocrisy, standing in this place and saying that we are the ones who are lowering ourselves, asking how low we can go and then talking about the low road. Perhaps he should refer himself to a contribution made on Tuesday by the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland. Again, it has been reported:

The federal opposition has been urged to rethink its plan to restore temporary protection visas (TPVs), with the policy having been blamed for the deaths of hundreds of women and children.

That may be quoting from a media article, but I have satisfied myself by reading the Hansard that that is the case.

This is the height of hypocrisy; it was an important question. Instead of puffing up these feathers of false indignation the minister should actually answer the question. Of course, he is in complete denial that there is any aspect of this policy that can be connected with people making the choice and allowing people smugglers to ensure that people make for these shores. He said in his response today, ‘I take no responsibility. It is not our policy to blame at all.’ Let’s hear what an Afghan asylum seeker had to say last week about what is attracting people to Australia. This man was interviewed in Indonesia on ABC’s The 7.30 Report and he had an expectation of coming to Australia. He said in the interview that he prayed for the Rudd government.