Shorten changes position on asylum-seeker policy

Bill Shorten has backed away from saying it was ‘fine’ to send sick refugees to Christmas Island.

Bill Shorten at Port Melbourne yesterday: ‘The reality is Christmas Island doesn’t have very much in the way of medical care.’ Picture: AAP

Bill Shorten has backed away from saying it was “fine” to send sick refugees to Christmas Island, shifting closer to his deputy Tanya Plibersek’s position that the controversial detention centre does not have adequate facilities for those requiring treatment under the Labor-backed medivac bill.

The Opposition Leader’s apparent green light on treating refugees on Christmas Island last week angered some in the Labor Left and led Ms Plibersek and others to publicly contradict Mr Shorten’s stance.

But Mr Shorten said yesterday the government was not “fair dinkum” in saying there were proper medical facilities on the island, in an apparent reach out to the left flank of his party.

“The reality is Christmas Island doesn’t have very much in the way of medical care,” he said.

“If the government wants to move a whole lot of resources and build hospitals there, I think that shows they’re not fair dinkum.”

The comments yesterday mark the third change in Mr Shorten’s position on medical transfers to Christmas Island in less than a week.

Last Tuesday, he told reporters in Canberra: “If the medical treatment is required and it’s delivered on Christmas Island and it makes people well, well that’s fine.”

The comments led to a public split between Mr Shorten and his deputy leader as she and Labor frontbenchers Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles continued to launch attacks against the reopening of the detention centre.

“I frankly can’t understand, and it really is up to the government to explain, why if a person cannot be properly treated on Nauru or Manus Island or Port Moresby, that they somehow can be properly treated on Christmas Island,” Ms Plibersek said on Wednesday.

“Christmas Island, I know, has good medical facilities, but it’s hard to see how they could be that much better than what’s available on Manus or Nauru.”

Mr Shorten started shifting towards Ms Plibersek’s position on Friday and poured doubt on the possibility of refugees going to Christmas Island. But again said it was “fine”.

The Opposition Leader’s change of direction on Christmas Island will fuel perceptions the Labor Left is increasingly dictating asylum-seeker policy.

Immigration Minister David Coleman said: “It’s hard to know what Labor’s position is on Christmas Island: clearly they don’t know, so how could anyone else? Labor’s political opportunism in parliament has massive real-world consequences — including a cost to Australian taxpayers of more than $1bn.”