Government embraces Pacific Solution measures

13 Aug 2012, 7:52 pm   -   Source: AAP
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The federal government will restore a key plank of John Howard's Pacific Solution by reopening the controversial asylum seeker detention centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea that it shut down four years ago.

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The federal government will restore a key plank of John Howard's Pacific Solution by reopening the controversial asylum seeker detention centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea that it shut down four years ago.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says Labor will introduce new draft laws into parliament on Tuesday to allow the centres to reopen as soon as possible, in a bid to stem the flow of asylum seeker boats reaching Australia.

She called on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to back the laws recommended by former defence chief Angus Houston's expert panel so they can pass by the end of this week.

She said the Australian people were sick of the long-running policy deadlock, after earlier legislation was rejected by the Senate in June.

"They're over it, I'm over it, we're all over it. It's time to get something done," she told reporters in Canberra.

Critically, the government won't insist on Mr Abbott's support for its Malaysian people-swap deal.

That's a major compromise by the government, which has until now insisted Malaysia be a part of any offshore processing regime.

The proposed new laws will also give the coalition and Greens the power to block the Malaysian deal in parliament - through what's called a disallowable instrument - meaning the government is unlikely to be able to implement it.

Mr Houston's panel - which Ms Gillard appointed in June - supported the Malaysian deal but said it must include stronger human rights protections before proceeding.

Ms Gillard said agreeing to return to the Howard government policies scrapped in 2008 was not easy.

"But I tell you what is a harder thing - that is watching more people drown, and we are not going to do that."

Coalition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the panel largely endorsed the opposition's policies but did not on Monday commit opposition support to any legislation.

"The Houston panel has green-lighted Nauru and they have red-lighted Malaysia and the people swap in its current form," he said.

Asked whether the coalition would support the Malaysia arrangement if there were legally binding safeguards, Mr Morrison said: "That is a massive, big if."

The government gave in-principle support for all 22 of the panel's recommendations, including an increase in Australia's current annual humanitarian intake - from 13,750 to 20,000, and to 27,000 within five years.

The panel also recommended future asylum seeker boat people be ineligible to sponsor family members to come to Australia under the Special Humanitarian Program.

It also concluded conditions for the "safe" turning back of asylum seeker boats - a coalition policy - could not be currently met.

Refugee and human rights groups largely condemned the panel's report and Greens Leader Christine Milne said it would take Australia back to the "bad old days" of the Howard government.

But Immigration Minister Chris Bowen warned asylum seekers they could no longer assume they would be allowed to stay in Australia if they came by boat.

"From this point forward anybody who comes to Australia by boat runs the risk of being transferred to an offshore processing place," he said.

More than 7000 asylum seekers have arrived in Australia by boat this year.
 

Asylum-seekers

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Your Comments

Deja vu!

John - from Sydney, 9 months ago

Why is the Pacific Solution wrong when Howard did it but right when an unelected panel recommends it?

political analyaz

omran - from Afghanistan , 9 months ago

in the Indonesian UNHCR can not consider all asylum seekers and the Aus gov knows it why not helping the people to take direct from indonesia because a lot of people die in the sea as I see the Aus gov just making fun and watching like a movies how the asylume seekes die and this is not good. as i see the aus is not honest for its policy. please send your watchdog in every camp indonesa and you understand whats going with asylume seekers

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