Kristina Keneally would ‘welcome’ end to offshore processing, say activists

An anti-detention group has claimed the shadow immigration minister was open to looking at loosening border policies after a Labor victory.

Opposition immigration spokeswoman Kristina Keneally reportedly told a group of refugee activists who aim to soften Australia’s border protection policies she would “welcome an approach … to end offshore processing” if the ALP gets into power.

An update sent to Labor for Refugees (L4R) members in March 2021, after the ALP held a virtual national conference, reported “Kristina stated that until Labor forms government, nothing will change”.

The update went on to say Ms Keneally indicated that “after Labor wins the election and Labor’s refugee policies have resulted in positive outcomes, Kristina would welcome an approach by L4R to end the offshore processing regime”.

Minutes of an L4R meeting held last November also indicate Ms Keneally’s chief of staff met with L4R secretary Nizza Siano. According to the minutes, Ms Keneally’s staffer “reassured Nizza that in their opinion, L4R is an important stakeholder” in the border protection debate.

Other L4R documents indicate that while only publicly discussing one meeting with L4R in August 2019, when she tweeted, “while we may not agree on everything, I thank them for their fierce advocacy & meeting me today”, she has had repeat contact with the group in the past three years.

Deputy Labor leader Kristina Keneally is apparently open to ending offshore processing, according to party-affiliated activists. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

Ms Keneally took part in a Zoom Q&A with L4R members last June and in August L4R publicised another Q&A with Ms Keneally in a newsletter that reminded members “the ALP still has a policy which supports turning back boats which Labor for Refugees has attempted to overturn at every opportunity”.

While Ms Keneally has lately been a muscular supporter of borders and in 2020 suggested a cut to migration numbers, she has also been a public opponent of boat turnbacks and offshore detention.

Labor for Refugees' secretary was reassured by Kristina Keneally’s staffer the group is an “important stakeholder”. Picture: AAP Image/James Ross

In 2015, she wrote in The Guardian she had an “instinctive dislike for boat turnbacks” and “I don’t want the Australian Labor Party to ape the Abbott government’s secretive and mean policies on asylum seekers and refugees”.

A Labor spokesman said: “Labor supports Operation Sovereign Borders – offshore processing, regional resettlement and turnbacks where safe to do so – but for years Labor has warned that Mr Morrison has put border protection on ‘set and forget’ mode.

“Labor introduced offshore processing, when Anthony Albanese was Deputy Prime Minister.

“(It) was only ever meant to be temporary – that’s why Labor included a 90-day rule. Under the Morrison-Joyce government it has become indefinite detention.”

Originally published as Kristina Keneally would ‘welcome’ end to offshore processing, say activists