Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let us not talk about how many people have drowned under whose watch—shameful! Since taking office the Rudd government has implemented a big reform agenda, a necessary reform agenda, by dismantling the Pacific solution; abolishing unjust temporary protection visas; introducing fairer work rights and arrangements for asylum seekers in the community; increasing the size of Australia’s humanitarian program; introducing fairer arrangements for asylum seekers on Christmas Island, including independent review of decisions; providing access to migration advice; and abolishing the ineffective system of imposing charges upon immigration detainees.

I am proud of the values that this government has expressed in its immigration policies and its border protection policies—things like assisting Sri Lanka to resolve its conflict on the ground. There is no solution for any of us unless we can resolve the conflict on the ground. As I said, that is why we are in Afghanistan and it is why we are on the ground in Sri Lanka helping it through its period of transition as it rebuilds following two decades of terrible military conflict which we all saw intensify over the previous couple of years. Indeed, that conflict saw a big increase in the number of people seeking to flee Sri Lanka and in turn an increase in the number of people seeking to come to our shores.

I am pleased to say that progress is being made in tackling the challenging task of resettling hundreds of thousands of displaced citizens and rehabilitating their communities. This is important work and it is ultimately at the heart of the kinds of bipartisan solutions that this parliament should be looking for on the question of border protection and asylum seekers. I am tired of the politicking by those opposite. They seek to gain at the expense of ordinary people.