Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Abetz, I will take that interjection. Nobody is arguing the doors should be opened. That is another fabrication from the coalition. There has to be a formal process—a proper process—to judge whether people should be allowed to come into this country and that is what we are doing. We will do that. We will not have a position where people are denied their international rights. Their rights will be looked after by this government. We will not be sending the SAS out to try to do what you did—that is, turn back legitimate asylum seekers. That is what happened. Senator Abetz, you know that is what happened. The majority of people that came in on the Tampa are here now. They were legitimate asylum seekers but, for pure political advantage, you wanted to send the SAS out to say that we were tough on refugees. That is what you did; that is what the coalition is about. This is an international problem that is being dealt with by governments all over the world. Asylum seekers have to have their rights protected and we will do that.

We will not get into the gutter with Senator Cash. We will not get into the gutter with Senator Bernardi. It is quite interesting to see it is the Western Australians lining up for this debate again.