Indi MP Helen Haines said she found the lack of notice disturbing as the issue had “been known about for some months”.
“There’s no way that issues of this gravity can be debated in such a short time,” she said. “Once again,we are being asked to limit debate in this place”.
Kooyong MP Monique Ryan said giving people bills with 24 hours’ notice regarding offshore detention wasn’t a display of transparency or integrity and the argument about urgency didn’t add up. She said bundling it up with a bill about superannuation was “egregious and perverse”.
“We deserve,and our constituents deserve,and those 65 individuals on Nauru,deserve an opportunity for us to discuss this important matter at length,” Ryan said. “I don’t think I can find any way that I could support this motion.”
West Australian MP Kate Chaney said the lapse of the instrument “may be symbolic”,in light of the human rights issues and treatment of asylum seekers at Nauru.
The issue was raised the same day as writer Behrouz Boochani,who was detained offshore for several years on Manus Island,in Papua New Guinea,was in parliament to call for a royal commission into the treatment of asylum seekers.
Behrouz Boochani met with a number of MPs and senators before speaking in Parliament House on Tuesday.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
He said the continuation of offshore processing – which he referred to as the “exile policy” – was unbelievable “because we know the history of this policy”.
“We know the tragedy that was created under this policy,” he said.
When introduced by O’Neil on Tuesday afternoon,the motion sparked debate in both houses of parliament over the morality of offshore detention.
O’Neil told parliament the continuation of regional processing was essential to ending the people smuggling trade.
“We have to separate the politics from the past on this issue. This problem has vexed this parliament for decades,” she said. “It is time to move on,there is a clear settlement on this matter. It includes regional processing and it includes Nauru amongst the regional processing countries that this parliament declares.”
Dai Le,who fled war-torn Vietnam by boat,asked for the government to consider a new way to process asylum seekers.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Dai Le,who spoke in her first speech last year about fleeing war-torn Vietnam by boat,asked for the government to consider a new way to process asylum seekers.
She said while she agreed genuine refugee claims should be rigorously assessed,Labor’s decision to spend $420 million maintaining offshore detention,where serious physical abuses and self-harm had been documented,was wrong.
“Both sides of politics ... have used refugees and asylum seekers as scare-mongering to our electorates. Refugees like myself have contributed greatly to society,” Le said,adding she didn’t believe extending the life of Nauru was the “way to go.”
When asked about the government re-signing a 10-year contract to continue the facility at Nauru,Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones told ABC’sQandA program on Monday night the government’s objective was to have nobody on the island,but to use it as a deterrent.
“Or if anyone is there,they’re there for a very short period of time until a third-country arrangement is put in place,” he said.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weeklyInside Politics newsletter here.