Asylum bill struck amid Labor-Lib battle

14 Aug 2012, 6:14 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the government wasted four years and $5 billion through its indecision on asylum seeker policy.

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Prime Minister Julia Gillard is defending her compromise on asylum seekers, with Tony Abbott accusing the government of a "massive backflip" and wasting $5 billion over four years.

Labor and the coalition on Tuesday reached a deal to pass laws allowing offshore processing, following a report by an expert panel headed by former defence chief Angus Houston.

As parliament resumed after a six-week winter break, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen - who since last October has advocated the reopening of Nauru but faced cabinet opposition - brokered a deal with his Liberal counterpart Scott Morrison which led to the bill getting the coalition's nod.

It will allow an immigration minister to name individual countries which can process asylum seekers, with Nauru and Papua New Guinea to be the first, and the government to hold further talks with Malaysia.

Ms Gillard - who wants to shift the political debate onto education funding, cost of living issues and the economy in coming weeks - told reporters the policy was "a different model" to the Howard government's Pacific solution but was a "compromise".

"The time for politics is over - the time for action is here," she said, adding that she took full responsibility for what was a difficult decision.

Speaking in parliament, Mr Abbott thanked the government for adopting one part of the coalition's policy, which also includes temporary protection visas and turning back boats.

"After 22,000 boat arrivals, almost 400 illegal boats, after tragically almost 1000 deaths at sea and after $4.7 billion has been blown because of the government's border protection failures the prime minister has finally seen the sense of what the opposition has been proposing all along," Mr Abbott said.

He said the prime minister had a decade ago described Nauru as "costly, unsustainable and wrong as a matter of principle", and held that view consistently until Monday's release of the Houston report.

"This is a massive backflip and frankly under the Westminster tradition ... a prime minister who in effect repudiates his or her old policy to embrace a policy that he or she had always rejected in honour will resign," Mr Abbott said.

Earlier, the Liberal leader told colleagues in a party room meeting they had reached the "home stretch" to the election due within 12 months and voters were "well and truly over" the prime minister.

Ms Gillard used question time to take a shot at the states over rising power prices, while Treasurer Wayne Swan talked up Australia's "gold-medal winning" economy.

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Your Comments

Divert funding from Indonesia

Bryan - from Kadina, 9 months ago

We should divert aid money that we give to Indonesia to help pay for the cost of asylum seekers. Maybye then Indonesia will take some action to protect its own boarders. Any Asylum seeekers given a Visa then commiting a crime should have there Visa revoked and deported. Lets help the people that we choose to help, and send the rest back.

Mr

David - from Sydney, 9 months ago

What a pious hypocrite is our Prime Minister Ms Julia Gillard! Whatever possessed the Labor Party to elect this person as leader? Labor has lost my vote for sure! As long as Gillard and Swan are leading this rabble, Labor will continue to decline in the polls! I still long for an election, so I can help vote this lot from office!

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