Opposition adamant over boat deal

19 Nov 2009, 6:26 pm   -   Source: AAP
0 Comments
Share This
+ Comment
0

The opposition is standing by claims the PM misled parliament over the deal used to persuade asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking to disembark in Indonesia.

RELATED

The opposition is standing by claims the prime minister misled parliament over the deal used to persuade asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking to disembark in Indonesia.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday faced another day of scrutiny over the deal that guaranteed the 78 Tamils they would be resettled in as little as four weeks if deemed to be refugees.

Mr Rudd denies the group have been given preferential treatment, despite the timetable for assessing their refugee claims being much faster than what other asylum seekers in Indonesia face.

It is also faster than the processing time for asylum seekers who make it to Australian waters and are taken to Christmas Island detention centre.

Figures provided by the Department of Immigration show that asylum seekers taken to Christmas Island face an average of 100 days before their refugee claims are processed.

The last of the 78 asylum seekers were finally handed over to Indonesian authorities on Wednesday after more than a month aboard the Australian customs vessel.

They will be held in detention at Tanjung Pinang on the island of Bintan while their claims are processed.

Mr Rudd has repeatedly denied prior knowledge of the details of the offer put to the asylum seekers, despite members of his staff being present at the committee meetings when the deal was put together.

"On the content of those negotiations, on the content of the agreement ... I had no prior knowledge of its content, I did not authorise its content," he said earlier in the week.

But Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, who attempted to censure the prime minister in parliament on Thursday, doubts Mr Rudd's claims that he knew nothing of the "fast-track access policy" before the offer was made.

Mr Turnbull said the deal, which had "no counterpart", went to the Border Protection Committee of the cabinet because it was "such as special deal".

"Now the prime minister says, of course, that he doesn't know anything about that and that his staff didn't advise him about this deal," he told parliament.

"The one thing that is beyond question is that the prime minister's claim that there was no special deal has been comprehensively, universally disbelieved."

"We've seen the most extraordinary spectacle of a prime minister looking the Australian people in the eye and unblinkingly saying black is white," Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Rudd maintains the 78 Tamils were not given preferential treatment to entice them off the Oceanic Viking.

"What we have said from day one is that the Australian government would not succumb to any demands that these individuals on this vessel be processed in Australia, despite the recommendations of a number of those on the Liberal side of politics," he said.

"Instead, what we did from day one was to say that these individuals on this vessel would be processed in Indonesia."

Mr Rudd said the opposition was attempting to "whip up a fear campaign about asylum seekers".

"Our policy on border protection is clear, and we'll continue to implement it in the future," he said.

The problem with the opposition was that they had no policy, Mr Rudd said.

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.