Scott Morrison to re-open Christmas Island detention centre after historic bill defeat
Scott Morrison has taken the extraordinary step of reopening the Christmas Island detention centre, but the territory’s CEO says he was never consulted.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has taken the extraordinary step of reopening the Christmas Island detention centre as the government braces for a new wave of boat arrivals.
It comes after he suffered a historic defeat on the refugee medical evacuation bill in the lower house yesterday, and less than an hour before it passed the Senate, 36 votes to 34.
The government will also beef up Operation Sovereign Borders with extra resources.
Mr Morrison made the shock announcement after an urgent meeting of the National Security Committee this morning.
JUMP TO: Phelps hits back at Morrison
JUMP TO: Pressure on Shorten over boats
JUMP TO: Protest in Parliament House
JUMP TO: Government safe over banking issue
JUMP TO: What has been revealed today about AWU raids
He said the government would adopt all of the committee’s recommendations.
“My job now is to do everything within my power and in the power of the government to ensure that what the parliament has done to weaken our borders does not result in boats coming to Australia,” Mr Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
It’s the latest dramatic twist after the government’s historic defeat yesterday, with Labor and crossbench MPs passing the bill in the lower house 75 votes to 74.
It was the first time a federal government had lost a vote on a substantive piece of legislation since 1941.
The bill then passed Senate at 11am this morning with independent Derryn Hinch’s support.
MORE: Hanson accuses senator of sexual harassment
“The people smugglers know my resolve. They know Peter Dutton’s resolve. They know we will do everything in our power to stop them at every point,” Mr Morrison said.
“If they don’t come, it will be because of the work and the decisions we are now taking and the actions we are putting in place.
“If they do come, you can thank the Labor Party and Bill Shorten because he is the one who has led this process.”
Mr Morrison refused to detail the extra resources being poured into Australia’s border protection, saying: “This parliament has already tipped its hand enough to the people smugglers.”
But he did reveal the government would reopen Christmas Island after it was closed last year.
“We have approved putting in place the reopening of the Christmas Island detention facilities, both to deal with the prospect of arrivals as well as dealing with the prospect of transfers,” he said.
Mr Morrison said people smugglers would consider it a “nuance” of the “Canberra bubble” that the medical transfers bill only applies to current refugees on Manus Island and Nauru and would not apply to new arrivals after amendments agreed on yesterday by Labor and the Greens.
He declared the Coalition would reverse the bill if re-elected in May.
“What is true today is, as a result of what happened in the parliament yesterday and what is happening in the Senate now, our border protection laws are weaker than they were go days ago. That’s a fact,” he said.
PHELPS HITS BACK
Dr Kerryn Phelps hit back at the Prime Minister’s warning today, urging him to “read the legislation” and to “reassure the Australian people that this is not a threat to border security”.
“It’s important to note that this legislation is confined to the current cohort on Manus and Nauru. It does not provide any attraction for people to leave where they are and come to Australia,” Dr Phelps said.
She said medical transfers should now be expedited for refugees “on the basis of need”.
Dr Phelps insisted she backed Operation Sovereign Borders, saying: “Like most Australians I do not want to see the people smuggling trade continue or increased.”
“We know that the boats have never stopped, just that Operation Sovereign Borders and boat tow backs have been a deterrent for people not to start out on that journey. I support that continuing,” she told reporters in Canberra.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of Christmas Island shire says he wasn’t consulted about the detention centre being reopened.
David Price told ABC radio in Perth that the announcement was just a “political kneejerk reaction” to the medical evacuation bill passing the parliament.
The government’s decision was also called “disappointing” by New Zealand’s government.
“The conditions aren’t satisfactory,” NZ Justice Minister Andrew Little said.
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre founder Kon Karapanagiotidis also slammed the Prime Minister’s rhetoric today, saying he was the only person encouraging more boat arrivals.
“Every one of us is trying to be measured. Every one of us is talking about how this is just about providing medical treatment to critically ill people,” Mr Karapanagiotidis said.
“The only one person encouraging boats to start again is Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton.”
The United Nations’ refugee agency has welcomed the medevac bill passing.
“Ensuring access to adequate medical care for refugees and asylum seekers is a life-saving, humanitarian act,” the UNHCR’s Canberra spokeswoman Louise Aubin said.
HINCH THE KEY VOTE TO BILL’S PASSAGE IN SENATE
Senator Hinch earlier demanded a security briefing on the legislation, saying it was the “toughest decision” of his time in parliament to back the bill.
He was swayed by an amendment which restricts the medical transfers to current detainees.
“It’s not an encouragement, I believe, to boat people or to people smugglers, who are despicable and should be despised, because it will only apply to people who are there,” Senator Hinch told parliament.
“People who are transferred off Manus and brought back to Australia, according to the Department of Home Affairs, they assured me today, will remain in detention in some manner or form.
“They will not come here and wander around the streets of Australia; they will come here for medical attention.”
Earlier, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton praised Senator Hinch’s caution in calling for a security briefing, saying: “It seems to me that Derryn Hinch is showing the leadership that Mr Shorten lacks.”
The minister assembled the heads of Australia’s security agencies involved in Operation Sovereign Borders to brief Senator Hinch this morning.
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham also urged Senator Hinch to block the bill, saying: “It is legislation that sends the signal that the alternative government of Australia is weaker on border protection.”
Independent Senator Tim Storer, who introduced the original medevac amendments, has revealed he did not receive a briefing from security agencies about the bill and will not seek one.
NO WELCOME MAT: SHORTEN
Bill Shorten rejected the idea he was trying to “put the welcome mat out” for people smugglers.
Fronting the media for the first time since pushing through legislation which the government says will put Australia’s borders in danger, Mr Shorten tried to dispute the attack.
He pressed the point that the legislation only applies to people currently on Nauru or Manus and therefore was not an incentive for people smugglers.
He said he had taken the “point of view” of security agencies on board.
“Last night was about a simple proposition that this government is strong enough to treat people humanely”.
The Labor leader’s message to Senator Hinch was the bill was stronger than the legislation initially contemplated last December.
Boats and banks were the big flash points in Question Time as the leaders squared off for the first time after the medical transfers bill passed.
“Malcolm Turnbull has said he’s sorry for not calling the banking royal commission sooner. But since the final report was released, the Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet have refused 10 times to say sorry for delaying the banking royal commission for nearly two years,” Mr Shorten said.
“Given that Malcolm Turnbull was decent enough to say sorry to the victims of the banks, why is he no longer the Prime Minister of Australia,” he asked.
Mr Morrison responded: “On the subject of sorries, when will the Labor Party apologise for 50,000 people turning up on 800 boats?”
“When will the Labor Party apologise for 12,000 deaths at sea?
“When will the Labor Party apologise for destroying the border?”
PROTEST STAGED AT PARLIAMENT
Meanwhile dozens of protesters staged a sit in inside Parliament House this morning, joined by Greens senators Larissa Waters and Sarah Hanson-Young.
Security guards surrounded the activists who were seen chanting in parliament’s foyer about 11.40am.
The activists were a collection of indigenous groups protesting about environmental damage to Australia.
“We have seen the desecration and destruction of our homelands for far too long,” one speaker said.
Others chanted “Water is life” and “no fracking” while a host of speakers condemned issues including coal mining, moves to build nuclear power plants and irrigation.
Another protest group was physically dragged out of parliament in December in similar scenes after staging a sit in inside the foyer.
MORRISON SAFE ON BANKING ISSUE
Prime Minister Morrison has avoided a humiliating defeat on a vote to add extra sitting days in March to deal with the banking royal commission recommendations thanks to crossbench MP Andrew Wilkie.
News Corp has confirmed Mr Wilkie won’t Labor’s push for extra sitting dates.
Fellow crossbench MP Bob Katter earlier told The Australian last night he wouldn’t back Labor’s push before reversing his stance to leave his options open.
“I’m in a pretty powerful position and I want outcomes. I don’t want any more looking into it or further inquiries or extending parliament, I just want it to happen,” Mr Katter told The Australian.
“If the ALP were fair dinkum they’d adopt that position. You can’t threaten the government but I’m more inclined to be nice to them if they’re doing some of the things that desperately need to be done.”
AWU RAIDS LEAKED TO HURT SHORTEN
Meanwhile, a court has heard a staffer in federal minister Michael Keenan’s office was also told about the raid on the Australian Workers’ Union before it happened.
David De Garis, a former media adviser to Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash, has told the federal court that he told media adviser Michael Tetlow that the raids were going to occur that afternoon.
Mr De Garis has previously told the trial he was given information about the impending raids by the senator’s then-chief of staff, Ben Davies.
- with AAP
Originally published as Scott Morrison to re-open Christmas Island detention centre after historic bill defeat
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