Matt Thistlethwaite (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

No, Senator Brandis, I am saying that the Leader of the Opposition is ignoring the departmental advice, the advice of Andrew Metcalfe, who has said on several occasions to the Leader of the Opposition and those opposite that the Nauru alternative will not work. Nauru will not work because it is too costly, Nauru will not work because it is an ineffective model and Nauru will not work because it will not stop the boats. It will not stop asylum seekers risking their lives and it will not stop the insidious trade of people smuggling to our country.

The facts are—these were explained to the Leader of the Opposition—that 95 per cent of refugees that were processed through Nauru ended up in Australia or New Zealand. They ignore the fact that there are no facilities currently available and ready on Nauru to process asylum seekers. In fact, much of the processing centre has been given away to the Nauru people. It has been gifted to the Nauru people. It is providing pergolas over barbeques for the people of Nauru. These are facts that are being ignored by those opposite. They also ignore the fact that many asylum seekers were left to rot on Nauru. For 1,637 asylum seekers that were accommodated in Nauru and on Manus Island the average stay was 501 days—approximately 1⅓ years. One man was left to rot on Nauru for 1,938 days—over five years. More than 120 people, including 19 children, I might add, were left to rot for over three years.

We understand that Nauru will not work. Labor's plan ensures that we meet our international obligations but we provide an effective deterrence to people smuggling. Labor's plan ensures that we also increase our humanitarian intake, that we understand that there are caps that need to be associated with our immigration intake and that we will give priority to those people who are in camps, those waiting in camps as a result of affliction in Burma, those waiting in camps as a result of famine in the Horn of Africa. (Time expired)