So after the Malaysian solution fell apart on Thursday we had this effort by the Prime Minister on 702 mornings with Deborah Cameron.
"My view is that we should be implementing the arrangement with Malaysia, it would send the maximum deterrence message, it would be the greatest blow we could land on people smugglers and be the greatest deterrence to stop people risking their lives and getting on leaky boats."
“unfortunately in recent years we've seen more than 400 people lose their lives trying to get too Australia by boat, so I remain determined to that we should implement the arrangement with Malaysia.”
“Tony Abbott chose his political interest over the national interest and he has acted to wreck offshore processing. that means we are making appropriate arrangements for onshore processing and we will continue to do that. We are at real risk Deborah of seeing more boats and the person responsible for that will be Tony Abbott.”
So according to the PM offshore processing works as a deterrent and it prevents people from drowning at sea.
On those two points she is totally correct but she is totally wrong in saying that it is Tony Abbott’s fault that we don't have an offshore processing system. The reason we don't have offshore processing is because Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard dismantled it in February 2008 and we don't have the Malaysian solution because it was rejected by the high court firstly and secondly because she didn't have the numbers in her own government to to pass the bill that would have allowed her 'Malaysian people swap deal.'
But it gets worse, in admitting the truth that offshore processing does work as a deterrent, she is also admitting that for the last 3 years it has been their policy of weakening the laws that has caused the influx of boats and it is her governments fault that 400 people drowned she is admitting that the opposition has been right all along on this issue and also that for the last 3 years they have been lying to the electorate when they claimed that the increase in boat arrivals had nothing at all to do with their policies that it was all push factors and so on.
Now to try and rewrite history and blame Tony Abbott for her Government's bungling of the issue is breathtaking. If anyone has been putting their political interest ahead of the national interest it is Julia Gillard in her blind opposition to Tony Abbott's preferred plan of Nauru.
