Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Evans, the Minister representing the Prime Minister. I refer to the Leader of the Government in the Senate's address to the Refugee Council of Australia on 17 November 2008, when he was the immigration minister, in which he said:

Labor committed to abolishing the Pacific Solution and this was one the first things the Rudd Labor Government did on taking office. It was also one of my greatest pleasures in politics.

Given the Prime Minister's statement yesterday, why did the government demonise Nauru for four years? And does the government now acknowledge that its decision to close the Nauru detention centre was a mistake?