Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Through you, Mr Deputy President, I take the interjection when Senator Kroger said it does not have to happen. No, Senator Kroger, we hope the heck that it never has to happen, but you and the rest of your Senate colleagues on that side of the chamber made absolutely no effort to give us a chance to change the Immigration Act and put something in place. Would it have worked? Would the system have stopped those plying that disgusting trade? Through you, Mr Deputy President: sadly, Senator Kroger, we do not know, because you did not give us the opportunity. You played very cheap politics. You would expect that from some of the Greens, with their crocodile tears, but that was disgraceful. So, through you Mr Deputy President: Senator Kroger, stop digging. The hole is pretty deep now and whatever you say now will do you no credit in this argument.

I want to pick up on Senator Abetz's comments when he yelled at Senator Marshall when he was making his very important contribution. Senator Abetz yelled and said, 'We will stop the boats.' I would love to hear from the rest of the Liberal leadership. I have sent tweets to Senator Cash and co. asking: 'How will you stop the boats?' I do not think that is an unfair question to ask an alternative government. Going back nearly two years ago in this building, in Senate estimates, I asked Admiral Barrie whether it would be safe to turn back the boats. Admiral Barrie was very clear. As a young commander on an Australian Navy vessel, he was in charge of the first boat under the Howard regime that tried to turn a boat around when it was sabotaged. None of us in this building condone that, but that is a fact. That is the reality: they sabotaged the boat and sunk it. Admiral Barrie said, 'It is not a safe thing to do.' That was not a secret little meeting we had in a dark nook or cranny in Parliament House; it was at Senate estimates. It was splashed across most of the newspapers the next day.

We have Mr Abbott and the Liberals saying, 'We're going to turn the boats back,' or we have Senator Abetz, changing their language, saying, 'Now we're going to stop the boats' or 'Now we're going to turn the boats back when it's safe.' I do not think that is an unfair comment, because many times I am asked by Western Australian constituents to ask Mr Abbott or Senator Abetz, or any other senator or Liberal member of parliament: 'How the heck are you going to do it?' It is very easy to get a headline—create all the xenophobic headlines that you want—and start the hate campaigns, but I do not think it is unfair that one of you, whoever it may be, answers. If the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, cannot do it, send someone out who can. Tell us: how are you going to stop the boats; how are you going to turn the boats around? Mr Abbott went to Indonesia, met with Mr President Yudhoyono and did not even have the guts to raise it with him. (Time expired)