Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I find it disappointing that once again I am standing here addressing the issue of how Australia deals with people who come to this country seeking asylum and our protection. I am also extremely disappointed that once again we get the yelling from Senator Scullion, who seems to think that by screeching we are somehow going to justify the previous government’s attitude towards asylum seekers.

I would just like to take the opportunity to actually outline what our government’s position is on the treatment of illegal boat arrivals and people who come here seeking asylum. Before I do that, I just remind the Senate that across the world there some 42 million displaced persons seeking safe haven for themselves and their families. We are not going to be able to stop people wishing to come to countries like this and seeking a better life for their families, but what we can do is to ensure that when they do come here we treat them humanely and respectfully, and in a way that the Australian people would want us to.

I would like to remind the Senate that under the previous government the tragedy of the SIEV X occurred, where some 350 people died. I do not think we attempted to blame the previous government for that, and it was appalling that Senator Brandis’ question today was prefaced by a statement which implied that the government was responsible for deaths that may have occurred recently. Any death at sea is a tragedy, and the government extends its sympathy to the families of those people who died. It will not try to make political mileage out of it as we have seen here today from the opposition.

Who can forget the SIEV X? Who can forget the children overboard scandal? Who can forget the people who were incarcerated for years and years, slowly going mad, in Nauru and elsewhere under the previous government’s policy? Who can forget the women and children who risked their lives on boats coming to Australia as a direct result of the previous government’s failed terrible temporary protection visas which, of course, they want to return to—and we know that they will.

Just on that point, we know that the Howard government introduced TPVs in 1999 and, after that, nearly 8,500 people arrived by boat. More than 90 per cent of those people are now living in Australia quite successfully and quite happily. The Pacific solution also failed. That was another initiative of the Howard government. Seventy per cent of those people who were detained on Nauru and Manus Island under appalling conditions have now ultimately settled successfully in Australia or elsewhere. We should not forget that most people who come to this country seeking asylum do end up settling here or elsewhere because their claims of asylum are found to be legitimate. This government intends to process all people who come here under the international obligations that we have, and in fact we are doing that.

I was very proud to be part of a government whose initial initiative when dealing with the issue of asylum seekers who travel to this country by boat was to introduce seven key immigration detention values which indicated immediately that Australia was going to act in a much more humane and civilised manner towards people who come here. I am a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration and I have seen the impact those seven immigration detention values have had. For example, I can say that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship now has a much better and widespread culture of acting humanely towards people who come and ask for our assistance. The government is determined to process claims, as I said, in accordance with our international obligations but as quickly as possible and in a way that gives certainty to people who come here.

While we are adopting a much more humane attitude than the previous government, we are also not forgetting that our borders do need to remain strong. The government has undertaken many initiatives, including pursuing people smugglers to attempt to bring an end to that terrible trade in human cargo. But we are realistic as well. We are not going to make outrageous promises to the people of Australia that what we are doing is going to bring an end to the terrible situation that confronts us. (Time expired)