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

Simply, no. That is not the case at all. You ought to read the policy more carefully because you will note that the first point in our detention policy is a commitment to the mandatory detention of unauthorised boat arrivals. I know you do not support that policy, but that is the policy we took to the election. It is a policy we have continued to implement as a government. We mandatorily detain all unauthorised arrivals for the purposes of identity, security and health checks. We allow people to have their claims assessed against the refugee convention if they seek to make those claims. So those election commitments have been honoured and will continue to be honoured. As I said, I think you misread the commitments we made. We have made it very clear that we maintain a strong commitment to mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals.