Like to hear a Christmas Island fable about asylum-seekers? Ask Brendan O’Connor

Bordering on hysteria, AAP, February 14:

Scott Morrison’s bid to reopen the Christmas Island detention centre was a political move to “whip up fear and hysteria” that could have “tragic consequences”, Bill Shorten says.

What tragedy looks like, The Australian, February 14:

The unprecedented wave of asylum boat arrivals between 2008 and 2013 is still fresh in the memories of Christmas Island residents … (Simon Prince) struggles to discuss December 15, 2010, when an asylum boat broke up (50 drowned and 42 were saved) … Mr Prince was among the residents who ran to the clifftop at Rocky Point and threw life jackets into the wind …

Blame game, The Sydney Morning Herald, December 17, 2010:

(MP) Rob Oakeshott called on Ms Gillard to give a full explanation: “Rumours and allegations are shooting through communities such as mine on the mid-north coast of NSW, with the worst being that government authorities allowed this to happen”.

The then home affairs minister, Brendan O’Connor, in parliament on September 13, 2011:

I arrived on Christmas Island on 15 December to be told of that awful tragedy. And if not before, certainly from that day, I and of course other parliamentary and ministerial colleagues believed we had to put our entire focus on an arrangement that would lead to the greatest deterrent possible in order to prevent more men, women and children dying and that would prevent our Customs and Border Protection personnel from endangering their lives any further.

ABC News, June 17, 2014:

Families of asylum-seekers killed and injured when their boat was smashed on to rocks at Christmas Island are suing the government … (Lawyers) launched legal action in the NSW Supreme Court … arguing Australia was responsible and the commonwealth breached its duty of care. (They) will argue the commonwealth knew or should have known that there were vulnerable men and women on the high seas that night (and) the government failed in its duty of care by failing to keep rescue vessels seaworthy.

Litigation pushback, The Guardian, June 17, 2014:

The then immigration minister Scott Morrison: “I think this is a shameful and offensive claim to be making. This is like someone who was saved from a fire suing the fireman.” Labor’s O’Connor: “As the minister (at the time), the Customs and naval personnel did remarkable things that day.”

Judgment day, NSW Supreme Court, September 13, 2017:

The (government) had no control over the risk that a (boat), if not intercepted, might be shipwrecked on the coast of Christmas Island due to factors such as poor weather, poor navigation or running out of fuel … The only matter over which the (government) had any relevant control was its response to the risk of harm which had arisen. (The government) did not create that risk, and did not, by its actions, make it worse … Those on board could have protected themselves simply by not undertaking the voyage.

Emotion v experience, ABC Q&A, November 20, 2017:

Greens Senator Janet Rice: “What’s happening on Manus Island is a horrifying humanitarian emergency … (people) are dying” … Senator Jacqui Lambie: “Innocent people have already died because (Labor) … let those boats come in for so long” … O’Connor: “You just want to use emotion … when I was the minister (at the time of the Christmas Island tragedy) I was involved in setting up a temporary morgue and saw (dead) men, women and children … let me tell you, when they got on that vessel, at that point, they were not fleeing persecution. Now, we have to find a way to stop people embarking on unseaworthy vessels where they kill themselves.