Labor silent on future asylum-seekers

Bill Shorten has refused to say if Labor’s controversial medical transfer bill would apply to future asylum-seekers.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Picture: Kym Smith

Bill Shorten has refused to say if Labor’s controversial medical transfer bill would apply to future asylum-seekers sent to Manus Islan­d and Nauru, as the government ramps up the fight over borde­r protection and warns that the changes would “obliterate” offshor­e processing.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton attempted to discredit Labor’s proposed changes yesterday ahead of the ALP national conference, which starts on Sunda­y. He said any asylum-seekers who tried to come to Australia by boat and were sent to offshore camps could be transferred here on medical grounds without their identity being known.

Mr Dutton said it took the governme­nt and relevant author­ities “many months” to establish the identity of an individual sent to Nauru or Manus Island and claimed that, under Labor, the two doctors ­assessing refugees could sign off on transfers “without us even knowing the identity”.

“Labor’s bill applies not only to Manus and Nauru now, but if 10,000 people arrived in the first six months of a Labor government, those people are potentially all coming to Australia,’’ he said.

“That abso­lutely obliterates Operation Sovere­ign Borders. If you wipe out temporary protec­tion visas, which Labor has already announced, and you wipe out offshore processing, which effective­ly is what they do through this bill … you only are left with turning back boats when it’s safe to do so.”

The opposition’s immigration spokesman, Shayne Neumann, claimed Mr Dutton was “lying” ­because the government had agreements with regional processing nations that ensured a person transferred to Nauru or Papua New Guinea for processing must first undergo a “short health, securit­y and identity check”.

Government sources acknow­ledged asylum-seekers did undergo an initial identity check that gathered a “short amount” of information, but much of their history was learned when they were vetted on Manus Island or Nauru.

The Opposition Leader could not say if the medical transfer bill would apply to asylum-seekers sent to Manus Island and Nauru in the future but redoubled his commitm­ent to boat turnbacks, offshore processing and regional resettlement.

“We’ve got an issue around the current cohort,’’ Mr Shorten said. “And again, what we’re proposing with the medical transfer bill I don’t think is a great departure from what already happens.

“What it’s doing is it’s putting down on paper what has been happenin­g in a de facto manner alread­y. I do think if treating doctors say a very sick person needs to come to Australia, someone who is in Australia’s care, whilst the ministe­r has got the discretion, we have got to make sure that we are using the power of government in a transparent and fair manner.”

The major parties are also at odds over whether Labor’s bill would allow the minister to stop a medical transfer of a criminal who had committed murder, rape, domestic violence or child abuse.

Labor says criminals would be captured because the minister could block their transfer on national security grounds as defined by the ASIO Act, which protects Australia’s “territorial and border integrity from serious threats”.

The government rejects Labor’s claims, saying the act is limited to espionage, foreign interference, sabotage and politically motivated violence like terrorism.

Outgoing Operation Sovereign Borders commander Stephen Osborn­e said the political debate in Australia was “being discussed” by people-smugglers.