Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. Rather, the Gillard government chose to contract out that responsibility to a committee to make the decisions for it.

The former Chief of the Defence Force, Angus Houston, Michael L'Estrange and Paris Aristotle are all highly respected and eminent individuals, so my comments in no way reflect on them personally. Rather, I believe that the approach that the government took is a damning indictment on the Prime Minister and her cabinet. They were incapable of reaching a solution and needed the involvement of a third party to come up with a proposal—elements of which, I hasten to add, we have been calling for now for some years. This government continues to fail every test when it comes to leadership.

My second point, just in closing, is how incensed I get in this place when I listen to the Greens and some of those on the other side of the chamber who constantly champion the furphy that they are the guardians of the moral high ground—and you all know who you are because you do it consistently in this place. What absolute bunkum! Clearly, they believe that if they say something long enough it becomes a fact. But history will continue to demonstrate that actions and facts actually speak much louder than words.

There would not be one person—not one person—who has not been deeply moved by the images or accounts of men, women and children who have lost their lives at sea. Just as we are concerned about the millions housed in refugee camps across the globe, it is compassion and common sense that drives our support for this bill. Compassion drives our support for a system that seeks to break the people-smuggling model and a system that does not disadvantage those people who seek asylum through the UN sanctioned refugee camps. It is a system that seeks to be fair and equitable, and I support this bill.