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

While we are waiting for Senator Sterle to come and contribute to this debate this afternoon, in addressing the motion moved by the opposition I would like to again point out that here we are once again hearing tirades from the opposition about a very complex, difficult issue. They always present a simplistic view of the world and do not take into account that this is in fact a multifaceted problem and one that the government is addressing in a number of ways. That includes addressing it from a regional perspective, working with our near neighbours to ensure that the issue of people smuggling and the transport of people is addressed from a regional perspective in cooperation with our near neighbours. They know full well that we will not have a resolution to the issue until we get that cooperation from our neighbours, and that is what we are striving to do.