Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

At the moment we are, of course, in the process of implementing the recommendations of the expert working panel. It is unfortunate to see how much glee the coalition get out of the number of boats that have arrived when they have for so long held up reinstating offshore processing due to their cheap and nasty political calculations. It is the same hypocritical calculation the coalition have made to prevent the implementation of the Malaysia arrangement. They just do not want the government's border protection policies to proceed.

We are of course committed to implementing the recommendations of the expert panel, of which reopening Nauru and Manus Island were priority recommendations to stop the flow of boats and prevent the loss of life on dangerous journeys to Australia. As the minister and the members of the expert panel have said many times, the real results will begin to show as more of the recommendations can be implemented. They work as a suite of measures, and no-one in this government has ever said Nauru, Manus Island or any of them would work on their own.