Immigration Minister Tony Burke admits Malaysia asylum seeker swap deal no longer viable


The Federal Government has admitted that an asylum seeker deal signed with Malaysia two years ago would no longer work.

As part of a swap deal with Malaysia signed in July 2011, Australia was to send 800 asylum seekers to the country and accept 4000 verified refugees in return.

The Government says the deal would have worked at the time, but the Coalition refused to support it.

Two years on, Immigration Minister Tony Burke says a deal would now have to be more comprehensive to cope with the challenge of people smuggling.

"[For] 800 places, I think anyone can see we would now need something more comprehensive than that," Mr Burke said.

Mr Burke says the Opposition's refusal to support the plan has made matters worse.

Key points:

Malaysia swap deal signed in July 2011
Initially hailed by Government as "ground breaking"
Australia was to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia in return for 4000 verified refugees
Deal never eventuated because Coalition didn't support it
Immigration Minister Tony Burke says deal is no longer enough due to challenge of people smuggling
Coalition says deal would never have worked
Dispute follows claims Indonesia dismissed Coalition's asylum policy
"When the Malaysia agreement was proposed, the Liberal Party refused to countenance anything that wasn't a photocopy of what John Howard had in place a decade earlier," he said.

"That was an error on their part, and they should own up to it.

"But they can't because at the moment, Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott can't get to any level of policy rigour if it isn't a slogan."

However the Coalition's immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says the Malaysia agreement would never have worked.

"He [Mr Burke] said this morning that 800 people would not be enough to address the challenges that now face us in terms of people smuggling," Mr Morrison said.

"That was always the case, from day one."

The dispute comes amid claims the Indonesian president delivered a rebuke of the Coalition's policy to turn back asylum seeker boats.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-06/government-admits-malaysia-asylum-seeker-d...


Slowly slowly, Labor is returning to the logicals and humane Greens' position on refugees.

We would have had to get the OK from the people smugglers and the Indonesians also as they have been running our immigration system since the ALP came to power.
Indonesians and people smugglers will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.

Grendel wrote on Jul 6^th, 2013 at 8:41pm:




Greens were not partners of Labor. Greens guaranteed supply so the elected government ran full term and the economy had security.

Try getting your opinions closer to the facts.


p.s calling someone poo gives moderator grounds to punish the perp.

____ wrote on Jul 6^th, 2013 at 9:08pm:




we all know the greens side with the people smugglers and want on shore processing...they dont mind a boat here and there sinking and drowning half the occupants...thats all par for the course and really its all about their so called humanitarian policies..if a few drown here and there it isnt really the greens fault..IS IT?... like everything that mob touches...its never their fault.

Burke is just as delusional as Gillard. It wasn't just the Opposition that refused to support this destined-to-fail deal. The full bench of the High Court ruled it illegal and the Greens also refused to support it in a rare moment of sanity. The latest ALP Immigration Minister should get his facts straight.