Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the government's failure to bring the Malaysia people swap to a vote today—a matter the Prime Minister has said over and over again needs to be dealt with as a matter of urgency. Doesn't this simply confirm what all Australians suspect—that the government has no plan to protect our borders or to stop the boats?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In response to the shadow minister's question, I draw his attention to the fact that the opposition has around 30 speakers listed for the debate. I presume he would be interested in listening to their contributions. I would also remind the shadow minister that initially when the legislation and the question of its progress through the House was the subject of public discussion the shadow minister was there saying they would work with the government, they would do everything, they would help, they would expedite and all the rest of it. Despite those assertions and promises from the shadow minister, when it came on for debate what we saw from the opposition was filibuster, filibuster and filibuster.

Ms Julie Bishop interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition!

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So I think perhaps the opposition need to talk to work out what their actual position is, having seen every position that it is possible to have during the course of this debate.

Of course, the fact that they have had every position that it is possible to have is not limited to the procedural questions in this debate. Originally the shadow minister was there saying that, in terms of the opposition's policies and plans, it was completely irrelevant to them whether or not a country they dealt with was a refugee convention country. He was there saying that the Howard government dealt with countries—

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. My question went to the government's lack of plans and their lack of ability to stop the boats.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister is responding to the question.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was indicating that this lack of consistency on process has been mirrored by a lack of consistency on substance. I refer to the statement of the shadow minister on 27 July 2010, talking about his plan in relation to Nauru, where he said:

No it's not. It's not a precondition that Nauru is a signatory to the refugee convention.

Of course, because of the politics of all of this, the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow minister have now adopted a completely different position.

Why are they doing that? Why have they moved from their original position to this completely different position? The reason they have moved is because they want to act in what they perceive to be their political interest, not the national interest. They want to deny this country the ability to process asylum seekers offshore. I remind the shadow minister that the government's amendment to the migration bill would enable this government and governments in the future to make appropriate choices in relation to the processing of asylum seekers, including that, should it ever occur that the shadow minister served on the government benches—

Ms Julie Bishop interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition!

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

as immigration minister, if he was of the view that Nauru was a good idea—

Ms Julie Bishop interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition is warned!

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

he would be able to do that. But they are not prepared to vote for that: something that would give them legal authority for the thing they say is their own plan. They are not even prepared to vote for that.

Why is that the case? Why have the opposition adopted this position? We know why. It is because they want to see more boats. They want to put out a welcome mat. They want to see more boats. The Leader of the Opposition will never be more delighted than the day on which he sees a boat arrive, because he in this debate, every step of the way, has prioritised his political interest over the national interest. It is actually sad to see the Liberal Party in this state of negativity. So I say to the shadow minister: rather than talking about the processing of this debate, maybe he should think about his policy as a matter of substance and what is in this nation's interest. It would be the first time he has ever done so.