Topics: Immigration, president-elect Donald Trump
E&OE …
KIEREN GILBERT:
Now for the asylum seeker deal done with the Obama Administration. For more on that, I spoke to Special Minister of State Scott Ryan.
SENATOR SCOTT RYAN:
One of the most important things about the arrangement announced yesterday were the other details provided by the Prime Minister and the Minister. This has been under discussion since the Prime Minster raised it with the President earlier in the year. But since then, extra resources have been put in place and even prior to then, extra resources were positioned, and have been positioned, to ensure that our borders remain secure. Part of that is also to ensure that, as our borders have been secure since we stopped the boats, that no sense of complacency comes in and no advantage of any situation can be taken by the people smugglers and that the deployment of those extra resources is critical.
GILBERT: It is a risk though isn’t it? Because as you know, as the Minister, Mr Dutton, has said repeatedly, they will use anything they can to try and propagate their trade.
SENATOR RYAN:
Kieren, you’re quite right. There is always a risk, which is why diligence and thoroughness are critical to maintaining our border security. For that reason, why on earth the Labor Party won’t support temporary protection visas and they won’t support other legislation we brought into the Parliament last week, which are important bricks in the wall for our border security. The Coalition has a track record of success here. The Labor Party has a track record of failure.
GILBERT:
It looks like there is a direct link between the Prime Minister’s commitment back in September and Barack Obama’s refugee summit in New York to take more asylum seekers from Central America. This is a quid pro quo isn’t it, in terms of the US taking some asylum seekers off Manus and Nauru?
SENATOR RYAN:
Not at all Kieren. This is a completely new arrangement. The cooperation between Australia and the UNHCR and the US is long standing. This is a completely new arrangement.
GILBERT:
Well it looks pretty coincidental that two months later, we’re having this deal with the US, just a few months after we agree to take an increased amount from Central America, which is a problem for the United States. You can understand why people are going to think this is one-for-one, basically.
SENATOR RYAN:
First of all, the numbers of people that will be taken by the United States are a matter entirely for the United States’ processes after references from the UNHCR. This is not as you describe it. This is a new arrangement and the Government has been involved in long discussions to seek to deal with the legacy of Labor’s disastrous border protection policies.
We’ve got all the children out of detention, we’ve closed more than 15 detention centres, but we still have this legacy, this caseload of people offshore because Labor, effectively, allowed the people smugglers to create a massive, multinational business. We are focused on cleaning it up and that’s what the Prime Minister and Minister’s announcement was about.
GILBERT:
Is there a risk that once Donald Trump is in the White House that he would revoke this because of course, we know what his position is when it comes to migration, particularly that of Muslim people?
SENATOR RYAN:
As the Prime Minister made the point yesterday, and I think he made it again this morning, there is a current US administration in place, until, I think, 12.30pm on January 20, Washington time. We deal with the US administration as it is in place.
GILBERT:
But there is no guarantee, in terms of the Trump presidency; he could well revoke it, couldn’t he?
SENATOR RYAN:
Well, I’m not going to make observations on internal operations in the United States. I haven’t made observations up until now and I’m not going to today. However, this is the product of longstanding discussions between the United States and Australia. There are very deep and very broad relations between our two countries and then separately also, between our two countries and the UNHCR, which will be involved in this particular arrangement and referring cases to the United States. So this announcement made yesterday is the product of many, many months of discussions with the United States and arrangements being made in Australia, by the Prime Minister and Minister to ensure that we can deploy extra resources to protect our borders.
GILBERT:
And finally Minister, you said on the morning of the election, and I quote, “one of the things I’ve noticed in all my years of observing and studying American politics is that sometimes, when it is least expected, surprises can happen”. One certainly did on that day.
SENATOR RYAN:
Kieren, I stand by that particular comment. I think that applies both to what happens day-to-day in American politics and also in elections. Look, it is fair to say quite a lot of people were surprised by the result, but it is the reflection of the will of the people. 110, 120-odd million people voted and that’s a very democratic process. The role of nations that are very close allies, like Australia, is to work with the elected governments of other countries and I’ve never made point of making observations on the internal democratic processes of our allies.
GILBERT:
Special Minister of State Scott Ryan there.
(ENDS)