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

I can say that in broad terms the figures quoted by the senator are close to the figures that I have for total numbers in detention. It is true that we are dealing with an increased level of arrivals and therefore increased numbers in detention. This is because we do mandatorily detain all arrivals and do put them through rigorous health, security and identity checks. They are not released from mandatory detention unless those checks have occurred and then there is a very rigorous assessment of their asylum claims. I would remind the senator, because he chooses to forget, because it is convenient for him to forget, that between 1999 and 2001 the Howard government had 12,000 arrivals and most of them were left to rot in detention for many years. (Time expired)