Federal election 2016: ALP runs off course over boat turnbacks

A Labor candidate has broken ranks on her party’s asylum policy, joining five MPs and another candidate in opposing turnbacks.

Labor candidate for the seat of Melbourne Sophie Ismail.

Peter Dutton confirmed yesterday that 12 Sri Lankan asylum-seekers picked up near the Cocos Islands were quickly flown home.

The Immigration Minister revealed the move as a Labor candidate in Melbourne broke ranks on her party’s asylum policy, joining five MPs and another Labor candidate in opposing turnbacks.

Mr Dutton said the growing dissent from within Labor could force Bill Shorten to abandon the policy if he won the election as opposition candidate Sophie Ismail spoke out against turnbacks. Ms Ismail, who is battling to win back the seat of Melbourne for Labor from Greens MP Adam Bandt, said she had concerns about turnbacks. “I don’t think they should be on the table,” she said.

“When people arrive by boat, and 90 per cent of them are genuine refugees, turning them back to places not signed up to the refugee convention is a problem.”

The comments forced the Opposition Leader, as well as senior frontbencher Penny Wong, to quickly declare that Labor continued to back turnbacks. Mr Shorten said the issue of making sure vulnerable people were not exploited by criminal syndicates was a difficult one, but Labor’s policy was clear.

“We will not put the people-smugglers back into business,” he said. “We will not allow policy which sees the mass drowning of vulnerable people seeking to come to this country.”

Mr Shorten said the boats issue had been debated at Labor’s ­national conference last July. “And we did it in the open, we did it publicly, we had the argument. That’s who we are,” Mr Shorten said. “Australians should be reassured, and people-smugglers and the criminal syndicates on notice, whatever happens after July 2, they’re not back in business.”

Senator Wong told the ABC’s 7.30 last night Labor went through a long, difficult debate on asylum-seekers and wanted to both prevent the deaths at sea and take many more refugees.

“We have been clear that we would include turnbacks as one of a suite of policies to ensure that the people-smuggling trade was not restarted.”

Retiring Fremantle MP and former minister Melissa Parke, along with several other Labor MPs, has recently turned up the heat on their party by strongly criticising the processing of asylum-seekers on Manus Island.

Ms Ismail said the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court ruling that the Manus Island detention centre was illegal cast doubt on the whole situation.

“It’s time to review the Pacific solution and move towards a ­decent and humane approach that fully complies with out international legal obligations,” Ms ­Ismail told Fairfax Media.

“These people need to be processed immediately and resettled. Their indefinite detention in unsafe conditions is clearly in breach of a number of our obligations and has to end.

“I have grave concerns about the ability of Manus and Nauru to provide safety for these people.”

Asked directly if the asylum-seekers on PNG should be brought to Australia and processed, Ms Ismail said: “I think they do need to be processed, whether in Australia or somewhere else.”

Mr Dutton said the fact seven members of Mr Shorten’s party had now broken out against his position on border protection so early in the campaign showed that he could not stare down threats to a successful policy.

Labor has also faced internal criticism from Lisa Singh, a shadow parliamentary secretary from Tasmania, WA senator Sue Lines, northern NSW MP Jill Hall, former speaker Anna Burke and candidate for Indi Eric Kerr.

At last year’s ALP conference vote on the matter, deputy leader Tanya Plibersek and Senator Wong handed their votes to proxies who voted against the position of Labor’s immigration spokesman Richard Marles to allow turnbacks to be part of Labor’s policy options. Frontbencher and former deputy prime minister ­Anthony Albanese spoke and voted against the position.

The Coalition also has suffered from dissent, with current and former MPs who have previously spoken out against boat turnbacks including Russell Broadbent, Judi Moylan, Petro Georgiou, Bruce Baird and Judith Troeth.

Asked if he would reprimand Ms Ismail, Mr Shorten said Labor’s candidates were good candidates. “I’m proud of my ­united Labor team but I’m absolutely clear what the policy is, as is my team. Full stop.”

Mr Dutton said the 12 Sri Lankans, who included women and children, were aboard the boat found near the Cocos last week. All 12 were sent home on May 6. That was the third group of boat arrivals sent home this year, he said.

Mr Dutton said people-smugglers saw the election as an opportunity to restart their business.

“There is a lot of intelligence coming out of different parts about people hoping that the election is the turning point for them, that that might be an opportunity for them after the election to restart their businesses, their people-smuggling businesses,” Mr Dutton said.

“I don’t want men, women and children to go to the bottom of the ocean and I don’t want people to turn up unannounced to our country.”

Mr Albanese defended Ms Ismail’s right to speak. He said the asylum-seeker issues had been ­argued within the ALP and people were entitled to put their views.

He said that because the government was in caretaker mode after parliament was dissolved, the opposition should have been given a briefing on the latest boat arrival. “This is a government that has shown contempt for normal processes,” he said.

Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh said there were very clear differences between the parties on asylum-seekers. “We oppose indefinite detention and are deeply concerned about the treatment of people in Manus and Nauru,” Mr Leigh said.