MEET THE PRESS 21 JULY 2013 INTERVIEW WITH MARK DREYFUS

PATHETIC DREYFUS - see below!!!


http://www.news.com.au/meet-the-press



http://resources.news.com.au/files/2013/07/21/1226682/689457-meet-the-press-transcript.pdf


MEET THE PRESS
21 JULY 2013
INTERVIEW WITH MARK DREYFUS
KATHRYN ROBINSON, PRESENTER: We’re hearing this morning that these
refugees, that will be headed to PNG under this new deal, may not indeed be resettled
there – that, indeed, they could end up back in Australia. We found that out after
discussions with Shadow Immigration Minister Scott Morrison this morning. Is that
the case?
MARK DREYFUS: Ah, well not at all. The agreement that we’ve reached with Papua
New Guinea is for an unlimited number of asylum seekers who – anyone who arrives
by boat in Australia will be transferred to Papua New Guinea, and will not be resettled
in Australia. And I think what you heard from Scott Morrison, unfortunately, is just

more of the negativity that we’ve become used to from the Opposition. It’s very clear
there’s an unlimited number that can be sent. That’s what the arrangement is with
Papua New Guinea, and we’ve made it clear what our policy is.
DENNIS ATKINS: But Attorney, Mr Morrison based his assertion on a conversation
with the PNG Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, who said that, indeed, these people could
be resettled in Australia.
MARK DREYFUS: Well, I don’t think that’s right, and I’m certain that’s not what
Prime Minister O’Neill said. I also met with Prime Minister O’Neill on Friday.
You’ve seen the arrangement that – the signed arrangement that’s been released, and
it’s a matter for Australia. Papua New Guinea has here agreed to take an unlimited
number of people arriving by boat in Australia, transferred from Australia – they’ll be
dealt with under the Refugees Convention, to which Papua New Guinea a signatory,
and will receive the full rights of the Refugees Convention, and be resettled in Papua
New Guinea. And it’s a matter of Australian policy – I’llsay again, we will be
sending everybody who arrives by boat to Papua New Guinea. You will no longer be
resettled in Australia, and I’m not quite sure what Scott Morrison’s talking about
there.
TORY SHEPHERD: Well, Attorney-General, what if Mr O’Neill had a change of
heart, or what if there’s a coup and we have another leader – I mean, is it watertight?
Is there actually, you know, a way to compel them to take every single person that we
want to send to them?
MARK DREYFUS: You can speculate endlessly about what can occur in other
countries. That’s the difficulty of international relations, always. I know who I’d trust
on international relations, and that would be Kevin Rudd, who has tremendous
experience – he’s built immediately on his longstanding relationships in the region.
He’s been able to deal directly with the President of Indonesia, and you’ve seen a
terrific outcome there from Indonesia, and that they’ve announced they’re bringing to
and end the visa-on-arrival arrangements in Indonesia for Iranians, you’ve seen the
terrific outcome here with Papua New Guinea, where Prime Minister O’Neill met
with our Prime Minister some weeks back, offered the arrangement that you now see
put in place, and of course, came to Brisbane on Friday to sign up to this arrangement.
I don’t think there can be any doubt about the skill that our Prime Minister has shown.
Kevin Rudd knows the region. This is part of the regional arrangements that
everybody says we need to be putting in place to deal with this dreadful problem of
people drowning at sea – more than 800 men, women and children – and babies –
have drowned in recent years, trying to come to Australia through people smugglers,
in unseaworthy boats. We just have to put it to an end.
DENNIS ATKINS: Mr Dreyfus, yesterday, and today, the Australian Government has
advertised in all of the major newspapers around the country – are you expecting to
sell a lot of copies of the ‘Brisbane Sunday Mail’in South Java. This is politicking,
isn’t it?
MARK DREYFUS: On the contrary, there’s an advertising campaign – multimedia
advertising campaign – throughout the region, and as part of that campaign, we’ve got
newspaper advertisements here in Australia, because, of course, we need to
communicate in every way we can, with anybody that is contemplating paying a
people smuggler to come to Australia, putting their lives at risk. They need to know
that they will not be resettled in Australia. And one of the ways to communicate that
in a quick way is to communicate with immigrant communities here in Australia, who
will be in contact with their relatives, who may be considering coming to Australia. I
think it’s absolutely appropriate that we advertise in this way, in Australian
newspapers.
TORY SHEPHERD: Attorney, how confident are you that this new PNG deal is
going to hold up against any legal challenges? Refugee advocates are already saying it
contravenes certain parts of the Refugee Convention.
MARK DREYFUS: Lawyers can say – they’re free to say whatever they wish, but we
have given very careful consideration to this arrangement with Papua New Guinea.
We have the advantage of recent decisions of the High Court on which to base the
course that we’re adopting here. This arrangement with Papua New Guinea complies
with our international obligations under the Refugees Convention, and it complies
with Australian law, and I am confident that it will withstand challenge.
TORY SHEPHERD: There’s a lot of language in the Convention, though, that we
would seem to be abrogating our responsibility to look after the asylum seekers, by
sending them away to Papua New Guinea. Are you absolutely confident that no
challenge would be successful?
MARK DREYFUS: Well, I don’t think it’s right to suggest that that’s what the
Refugees Convention means. What the Refugees Convention means is that people are
to be protected from persecution, and they are to be cared for appropriately.




And both of those things will occur in Papua New Guinea – which is, as I said earlier,
is a signatory to the Refugees Convention, has withdrawn its reservations to the
Convention in relation to people being transferred from Australia. So – and what that
means is that people coming from Australia will have the full rights available to them
under the Refugees Convention in Papua New Guinea.
DENNIS ATKINS: Mr Dreyfus, back in 2006, Kevin Rudd wrote in the ‘Monthly
Magazine’ – talking about asylum seekers, and the UN Convention – that the Parable
of the Good Samaritan is but one of many that deal with the matter of asylum seekers,
and how we should respond to a vulnerable stranger in our midst. Hasn’t Kevin Rudd
given up any idea of Australia being a Good Samaritan here?

MARK DREYFUS: Absolutely not. We are taking 20,000 refugees a year, that’s an
increase from our previous level of 13,000. As the Prime Minister indicated on
Friday, we are considering increasing the number to something closer to the 27,000
that the Houston panel recommended. We’re going to continue to take that 20,000,
and you’ve got – I suppose one way of looking at it, Dennis, is you’ve got competing
compassions here. It’s not compassionate to allow people to continue to drown at sea
– men, women, children, whole families, drowning at sea. And it’s also not
compassionate to not do what we can for people who have been languishing in
refugee camps around the world. You’ve got that dreadful comparison, of is it more
compassionate to take someone who arrives by boat or someone who’s been
languishing in a refugee camp for, in some cases, more than a decade? Bear in mind
that if someone does arrive by boat, and is assessed as a refugee, and is settled in
Australia, that’s one less place in that 20,000 that would otherwise go to someone
who is in a camp somewhere else in the world. There are no easy choices here in this
area. It’s a very difficult policy area, and we’ve made some very tough decisions here
in relation to the arrangement with Papua New Guinea.
KATHRYN ROBINSON: Attorney, is it compassionate to send people to PNG, when
the Government’s own website, Smartraveller, urges a high degree of caution for
Australians travelling to the area?
MARK DREYFUS: We are going to make sure that there are appropriate
arrangements for anyone transferred from Australia – that’ssomeone who’s arrived
by boat – to Papua New Guinea. And the starting point is that Papua New Guinea is a
signatory to the Refugees Convention, and we’ll make sure that the full rights
available under the Refugees Convention are available to anyone transferred. The
second point is that we will be assisting Papua New Guinea, working with Papua New
Guinea, making sure they’ve got appropriate resources, appropriate procedures in
place, for everyone that’s transferred. But it is going to start straightaway, and that’s
the message – that no-one who arrives by boat in Australia from now is going to be
settled in Australia.