Old Coalition policies and more Abbott boats
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Tony Abbott's relentless negativity continues to pave the way for more boats, with another two arriving - the 51st and 52nd since the Coalition rejected compromise, rejected the government's offer, and rejected offshore processing.
The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen MP, said Mr Abbott should urgently reverse his vote in the Parliament and vote for offshore processing.
'As predicted by the Government, with the Coalition blocking offshore processing, more people are arriving by boat, which means more lives are being put at risk on that dangerous sea journey,' Mr Bowen said.
'Tony Abbott should stop the cheap politics and stop passing off old policies as new ones. New layers of bureaucracy are not the answer - only a genuine deterrent such as the Malaysia Arrangement can break the people smugglers' business model.'
Mr Bowen said it was time for Tony Abbott to stop standing in the way of offshore processing and vote 'yes' to the legislation that can stop the flow of boats.
'We can put an offshore processing deterrent in place, but whether it's Malaysia or Nauru, this requires legislation,' he said.
'If Mr Abbott is serious about stopping the flow of boats he must stop blocking progress on offshore processing.'
URL: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/cb/2012/cb187479.htm
Last update: Wednesday, 13 June 2012 at 16:37 AEST