Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Senator Carr) to questions without notice asked by me today, relating to Immigration.

Senator Carr confirmed in question time today everything that is going wrong with the Labor Party’s border protection policy. When you actually look at where the Labor government has taken this country in relation to border protection, this is the situation that is currently facing the Australian people: we have on the minister’s own admission in question time today that Christmas Island is overflowing beyond capacity. I have just recently been informed that the AFP have actually stopped boats stopping at Christmas Island and they have to be taken to the mainland because of the overcrowding on the island. If that report is true that is an absolute indictment on this government because it is not their decision to stop the boats, it is the AFP’s decision. It is an absolute indictment on this government.

Labor are now opening detention centre after detention centre particularly in relation to Northam in Western Australia with almost no consultation at all with the local community. We all know that universal offshore processing is now completely, totally and utterly finished because the Labor Party announced that they will not be taking boats to Christmas Island; they will be brought straight to the mainland. Minister Carr confirmed today in question time that there is an absolute debacle on Christmas Island. In fact he almost accused me of downplaying the situation.

Then we have the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship who must be really questioning the poisoned chalice that he has been handed by the Prime Minister. We have abysmal failures with what is going on with border protection. And what is the government’s response? They try to downplay it with a wall of spin to the Australian people. Minister Bowen, on Thursday, 17 March, following a night of rioting by some of the asylum seekers on Christmas Island said: ‘The situation on Christmas Island is calm.’ Then the following day, when he realised that he really did have a problem on his hands, he came out with the statement: ‘At no stage during the week have I underplayed the seriousness of the situation.’ And if that was not bad enough, if the minister himself was not misleading the Australian people in relation to what was going on on Christmas Island, let us now have a look at what Prime Minister Gillard said. Last Sunday after the week of riots at Christmas Island Prime Minister Gillard told Australians: ‘The situation at Christmas Island was under control.’

One of the greatest betrayals that this parliament has ever seen is the failure of those on the other side on their border protection policy. Christmas Island has descended into absolute chaos. We have the AFP having to use tear gas and beanbag rounds. We have mass break-outs. We have fires. We have rock throwing. We have protests. We have asylum seekers who are on the loose. And the government says that the situation is under control.

The situation is far from under control. The situation in relation to the Labor Party’s border protection policy is in complete, total and utter disarray. If those on the other side actually think that this is the way to run Australia’s border protection regime, then quite frankly they deserve to be thrown out at the next election. This government has shown in the few short months it has been in office that—just like the former Rudd government—when it comes to protecting Australia’s borders it has absolutely no idea whatsoever. This is a government that—just like the former Rudd government—when it comes to protecting Australia’s borders lurches from one problem to the next. This is a government that is now reaping what it has sown, but it is the poor Australian taxpayer that will pay for these border protection failures. (Time expired)

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I always love following Senator Cash because she makes me feel cool, calm and collected—not like Senator Cash. You have to put in context what Senator Cash has just said and you have to understand what she has said to this place on many occasions. What Senator Cash is about is the dog whistle. It is about refugees not getting a fair go and it is about stopping the boats. They hold the part of the debate that goes to the lowest common denominator. That is Senator Cash. Every time she is on her feet the whistle is blowing. That is the reality.

The Labor Party is not prepared to go down that path because we are very clear that people have to be treated fairly, people have to be treated equitably and, if people have a genuine claim for refugee status, then they should get that status. They should not have temporary protection visas where they never know if they can start a life here or not. They should not be treated as someone different because they have a different religion, as we have heard from across on your side. We are not prepared to go into that approach, which is not very far away from a position adopted by the British National Party in the UK—the worst lowest common denominator you can get.

We are prepared to take these issues on, as we are prepared to take on all of the big debates that are important. Here we have this debate about protecting our borders. Our borders are secure. You know that our borders are secure because we have a situation unlike that of other countries. This is an international problem where people all over the world are looking for protection. They are looking for somewhere they can go to have religious freedom, to have their social rights looked after and to have a decent life. Where else would they want to come but Australia? Australia is a country that looks after all of these issues.

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

Open the doors.

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Abetz, I will take that interjection. Nobody is arguing the doors should be opened. That is another fabrication from the coalition. There has to be a formal process—a proper process—to judge whether people should be allowed to come into this country and that is what we are doing. We will do that. We will not have a position where people are denied their international rights. Their rights will be looked after by this government. We will not be sending the SAS out to try to do what you did—that is, turn back legitimate asylum seekers. That is what happened. Senator Abetz, you know that is what happened. The majority of people that came in on the Tampa are here now. They were legitimate asylum seekers but, for pure political advantage, you wanted to send the SAS out to say that we were tough on refugees. That is what you did; that is what the coalition is about. This is an international problem that is being dealt with by governments all over the world. Asylum seekers have to have their rights protected and we will do that.

We will not get into the gutter with Senator Cash. We will not get into the gutter with Senator Bernardi. It is quite interesting to see it is the Western Australians lining up for this debate again.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You know you make that noise to the lowest common denominator in Western Australia and the rest of the country. You can do that, but we are going to stand up for people’s rights. We are going to make sure that people are looked after. We are going to make sure that our international obligations are maintained and we will do that in a way that ensures that this government has some credibility, not like you had in your time in government.

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is interesting to be told by Senator Cameron that Western Australia is the lowest common denominator—and I thank him. He speaks about the dog whistle. In my veterinary days the dog whistle was used to round up the sheep. It would appear that the rounding up of the sheep is definitely needed on the other side of this chamber. What a debacle and what a disgusting situation. What an effort by the minister, Minister Carr, in trying to respond to Senator Cash’s question on asylum seekers earlier this afternoon. In his efforts, he damned his own minister, Minister Bowen. From his own words he damned Minister Bowen with his claim that there was calmness.

To follow on from Senator Cameron’s comments—and it is a shame that he is leaving the chamber—we now have three classes of asylum seekers who are trying to get to Australia. The first and, unfortunately, the lowest on the queue are those who are legitimate and whose applications have been approved. They are rotting in camps in Africa and elsewhere—and long will they rot whilst those who are jumping the queue manage to do so. Until last week, we had only one other group and those were queue jumpers. But last week on Christmas Island we actually divided them into two groups. There are those who are prepared to break the law, those who are prepared to destroy Australian property and those who are prepared to actually put at risk those who are supposed to be caring for them. The reward they get, of course, is to be brought quickly to the Australian mainland. The third group—those fools who stayed around acting responsibly, as they were supposed to, in detention—sat there and now they have nowhere to go. We all wondered about this situation the night after the law-breakers’ actions. They were not deported from this country, told that their opportunity to come here had now been denied because of their willingness to break our laws, destroy property and put at risk the people who were looking after them. On the second night, all of those who had initially said, ‘We will sit back; we will wait for Australian law to take its course.’ turned around and said, ‘The only way for us to get to the mainland is in fact to repeat their efforts.’ So we saw the burning of facilities. We saw the gentleman who controls the recreation centre on Christmas Island being approached at three in the morning to see whether he could open that facility so that those who did not participate in this law breaking could be safe while the law-breakers continued on their way. What is going to happen to them, we can only wait to see.

I will now turn to the town of Northam, where I was a resident through the decades of the 1970s and the 1980s. Like most young kids who went through cadets, I spent a lot of time at the old Northam army barracks. It is three kilometres out of town and it is right on the Great Eastern Highway to the eastern states. I call on Minister Bowen, whilst he still is the minister, to completely remove any plan to construct a facility in Northam for 1,500 young men. This facility will be three kilometres out from a very, very quiet residential wheat belt town. If the government cannot control asylum seekers on an island, what chance have they got of controlling them in and around Northam? On an island, asylum seekers have nowhere else to go. As Senator Carr said, they will eventually be rounded up—of course they will. As soon as you need a feed, you tend to go back to where the food is available.

But in Northam, if anybody should break out of that camp—and they could break out of it at any time once it is constructed—it will be impossible to protect either the 1,500 people inside the detention camp or the wider community outside it. It will be impossible to do so. I call on the minister, whilst he is still the minister, to announce that he is not going to proceed with that particular program—although he should possibly do that for families. Premier Barnett, very early in the process, said, ‘Limited numbers of people, limited numbers of families and in consultation with the state government and local communities, and we will see what can be done.’ Was there consultation by Minister Bowen? No, there was not. Is there an attempt to relocate families into that area? Knowing Northam as I do and knowing that very camp, which was in fact a refugee camp when it ceased being an army barracks after the Second World War, there has been tremendous assimilation within that community. But 1,500 young men will not work. It did not work on Christmas Island; it will not work in Northam. It is absolutely essential that this minister resigns and that the Prime Minister takes control of the issue. If she cannot control our borders then she too should resign so that we can put a government back into place that will.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Quite frankly, it sickens me to see people try to take and make political advantage from the human suffering and the human misery of others. Quite frankly, it is appalling. We have heard Senator Back—

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No political advantage, Senator Marshall.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

you can make that interjection—refer to people as ‘queue jumpers’. This is a simplistic argument which you run to try to demonise people seeking asylum in this country. Where was the queue in Sri Lanka? As the Sri Lankan army was closing in on hundreds of thousands of the population who were in the bombardment range and who were actually being driven into the sea, where was the queue for those people, Senator Back? There is no such thing as a queue for people who are escaping human rights abuses, torture, human misery and war. It is just simplistic and typical of the dog whistling attitude of the coalition, who will do and say anything to try and make some political advantage about any issue that they can. This is the great tragedy across the world. The fact is that people need to flee their homelands because of the human misery that they are suffering, because of torture, because of human rights abuses and because of starvation. They need to flee from it and seek political asylum in other countries around the world. People on that side have no sympathy, no compassion; they seek to make political advantage from their misery. Quite frankly, as I said, it sickens me and it disgusts me.

There is of course enormous difficulty for all governments across the board when there are periods of instability, as there have been—and there will be more of it. We see what is happening in Northern Africa. We see it happening in Libya and in other countries. I can tell you: there is no queue in Libya. We will see people displaced for what is looking like a long civil war in that country. We will see people displaced and we will see refugees. Some of them will be fleeing harassment. The very thing that the UN is doing now is trying to protect civilians. They will not be able to protect them all and people will flee that country. A lot of them will go to Europe, some of them will try to make their way to America and some of them will try to make their way here. And you will say, ‘Why didn’t they get in the queue? Why didn’t you get in that queue in Libya or wherever that queue might be?’ They will be fleeing torture; they will be fleeing war. They have a legal international right to seek asylum in third countries. We have a legal obligation to take them and process their claims for asylum. We have a right to do that, and we have a legal obligation to do it.

Whenever there is widespread conflict in places across the globe, there are going to be more people seeking refugee status, not just in Australia but across the world. It is not a problem that is unique to us. It is appalling that those on the other side try to politicise this. It is a balance. When most of these people flee torture and war, they do so genuinely without papers or luggage or anything else.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How do they get on aeroplanes?

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

How do they get a plane to Indonesia? Where do they get the $10,000 to fly to Indonesia?

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There we have again the stereotyping of all these people. ‘They get on aeroplanes to go somewhere and then they get on a boat to come here, and none of them are genuine refugees.’ That is how you try to paint all these people.

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

It is the majority.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is not the majority at all. We know that the vast majority of them end up having their claims for asylum approved. The vast majority of them are genuine asylum seekers. That is something that you do not like, because you want to paint all these people as opportunists and queue jumpers. That is what you have done and what you want to do, and it makes me sick. It is political opportunism that plays on people’s most basic fears. You ought to know better. You ought to be leaders in the community.

The Australian government needs to assess every claim for asylum that is made. We need to check where these people have come from and whether their claims are genuine. We need to establish that they are who they say they are. That is very difficult to do sometimes when people have fled countries, especially when the regimes that they have fled from are uncooperative. It is an incredibly difficult process. There is always a balance between the government’s responsibility to process people properly and to ensure that their claims are accurate and that they are who they say they are and the government’s responsibility to put people through the system as quickly as we can possibly can. That is a challenge not only for this government but for every government. I strongly urge the opposition to get some humanity back. (Time expired)

Judith Adams (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to also take note of answers given by Minister Carr. Senator Marshall has just made comments about us calling asylum seekers queue jumpers. Senator Marshall should cast his mind back. The current foreign minister, when he was Prime Minister, called them exactly that. He referred to asylum seekers as queue jumpers. The federal government seems to have discarded their immigration policy by allowing more than 100 people intercepted near Ashmore Reef to be taken straight to the Australian mainland. What is going on? This was never to happen. They were supposed to go to Christmas Island to be processed. I wonder what signal this is going to send. More and more people will get to Ashmore Reef knowing that they are going to jump Christmas Island and go straight to the mainland. Where have they been taken? We are not privy to that.

This change seems to have come after pressure from the police as a result of their difficulties in trying to contain outbreaks of unrest and violence on Christmas Island. They have done their best, and I really congratulate them on what they have done. But I guess it comes to a stage when you have too many people there and a too small number of police to deal with them and to try to protect the community of Christmas Island. The people of Christmas Island are in their turn becoming very agitated and upset about having detainees breaking out into their community. It now seems that it is too dangerous to put more detainees on Christmas Island, so they will be coming straight to the mainland.

The coalition is opposed to processing refugees on the mainland of Australia. Christmas Island was excised for immigration purposes means. People now have to be processed within 90 days. The problem is that now they will be able to have their cases heard by an independent refugee tribunal and have unfettered access to courts of appeal. This means that no-one will be able to be sent back to where they came from.

There also seems to be a problem with a backdown on asylum seeker processing protocols. The electric fencing on Christmas Island around the high security detention centre has been switched on, in what seems to be a desperate attempt to bring the situation under control. The government is now considering releasing thousands of asylum seekers who are in detention while their claims are being finalised. The mechanisms for doing this would include a new visa category for those who have been identified as genuine refugees and who are awaiting a security clearance.

The security and safety of communities is a mounting issue, with communities up in arms about their own personal safety when refugees break out and riot and in those communities where future facilities are planned. I am a Western Australian senator. My colleagues have mentioned Northam. I live 60 kilometres from Northam. People have been told by the department of immigration that there is, as Senator Back said, going to be a facility built three kilometres from the town. That facility will house 1,500 male detainees. Our biggest prisons in WA have 900 people or so. How one would keep 1,500 male detainees in a facility near a town like Northam we really do not know.

I, Senator Cash and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Julie Bishop, were at a community meeting in Northam addressed by the immigration department—not the minister; he had been in Perth, but he certainly did not go to Northam. The agitation shown by the people living near and around the site was very sad to see. Their properties are going to lose value. They are certainly not very happy about what is happening. However, the process has been stalled in Northam. It is never going to be ready. The dongas are going to need to be refurbished. There is no power. Water is going to be difficult. Sewerage is not in place. So there is no way that the Northam facility is going to be ready. Six-hundred detainees were supposed to be on that site by the end of this month. That is certainly not going to happen. Another 500 were supposed to be on the site by June or July 2011. Goodness me! That is not going to happen. What sort of planning is this? I feel very sorry for the people of Northam. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.