❓ Mr. Ripper questions Premier Barnett's truthfulness regarding suggested locations for asylum seeker accommodation. Barnett defends his actions, stating he cooperated with the federal government without endorsing their approach and only offered potential areas for consideration, not specific recommendations.
AnsweredQoN 346Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ASYLUM SEEKER ACCOMMODATION SITES
Before I ask my question, I seek leave to lay on the table of the house for the information of members the legal opinion on the Retail Trading Act 1987 and amendment regulations prepared by Dr Peter Johnston and Mr John Fiocco. I ask the Premier to table the State Solicitor’s advice so that members of Parliament can make their assessment. [The paper was tabled for the information of members.] Mr E.S. RIPPER : I refer to the Premier’s comments to the media last week. According to my notes he said — I have not suggested sites at all. I have said these are some areas of the State, one of them for example the northern wheatbelt, some locations in the southern part of the State if the Commonwealth wants to look at those. I refer also to the letter that the Premier wrote to Minister Chris Evans in which he refers to discussions with the minister on 27 May 2010. It reads — I consider there are a number of areas and existing facilities that we could examine to determine whether they meet the criteria outlined above. An indicative list is: Katanning (Residential College recently closed); Yarloop (Hospital site recently closed); New Norcia Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks); When exactly was the Premier telling the truth about this matter? Mr C.J. BARNETT
Before I ask my question, I seek leave to lay on the table of the house for the information of members the legal opinion on the Retail Trading Act 1987 and amendment regulations prepared by Dr Peter Johnston and Mr John Fiocco. I ask the Premier to table the State Solicitor’s advice so that members of Parliament can make their assessment. [The paper was tabled for the information of members.] Mr E.S. RIPPER : I refer to the Premier’s comments to the media last week. According to my notes he said — I have not suggested sites at all. I have said these are some areas of the State, one of them for example the northern wheatbelt, some locations in the southern part of the State if the Commonwealth wants to look at those. I refer also to the letter that the Premier wrote to Minister Chris Evans in which he refers to discussions with the minister on 27 May 2010. It reads — I consider there are a number of areas and existing facilities that we could examine to determine whether they meet the criteria outlined above. An indicative list is: Katanning (Residential College recently closed); Yarloop (Hospital site recently closed); New Norcia Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks); When exactly was the Premier telling the truth about this matter? Mr C.J. BARNETT
AnswerView source ↗
On every occasion. Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
[The paper was tabled for the information of members.] Mr E.S. RIPPER : I refer to the Premier’s comments to the media last week. According to my notes he said — I have not suggested sites at all. I have said these are some areas of the State, one of them for example the northern wheatbelt, some locations in the southern part of the State if the Commonwealth wants to look at those. I refer also to the letter that the Premier wrote to Minister Chris Evans in which he refers to discussions with the minister on 27 May 2010. It reads — I consider there are a number of areas and existing facilities that we could examine to determine whether they meet the criteria outlined above. An indicative list is: Katanning (Residential College recently closed); Yarloop (Hospital site recently closed); New Norcia Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks); When exactly was the Premier telling the truth about this matter? Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: On every occasion. Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : I refer to the Premier’s comments to the media last week. According to my notes he said — I have not suggested sites at all. I have said these are some areas of the State, one of them for example the northern wheatbelt, some locations in the southern part of the State if the Commonwealth wants to look at those. I refer also to the letter that the Premier wrote to Minister Chris Evans in which he refers to discussions with the minister on 27 May 2010. It reads — I consider there are a number of areas and existing facilities that we could examine to determine whether they meet the criteria outlined above. An indicative list is: Katanning (Residential College recently closed); Yarloop (Hospital site recently closed); New Norcia Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks); When exactly was the Premier telling the truth about this matter? Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: On every occasion. Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Katanning (Residential College recently closed); Yarloop (Hospital site recently closed); New Norcia Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks);
Yarloop (Hospital site recently closed); New Norcia Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks);
New Norcia Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks);
Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks);
Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks);
Northam (unused barracks);
Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: On every occasion. Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
On every occasion. Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
[The paper was tabled for the information of members.] Mr E.S. RIPPER : I refer to the Premier’s comments to the media last week. According to my notes he said — I have not suggested sites at all. I have said these are some areas of the State, one of them for example the northern wheatbelt, some locations in the southern part of the State if the Commonwealth wants to look at those. I refer also to the letter that the Premier wrote to Minister Chris Evans in which he refers to discussions with the minister on 27 May 2010. It reads — I consider there are a number of areas and existing facilities that we could examine to determine whether they meet the criteria outlined above. An indicative list is: Katanning (Residential College recently closed); Yarloop (Hospital site recently closed); New Norcia Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks); When exactly was the Premier telling the truth about this matter? Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: On every occasion. Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : I refer to the Premier’s comments to the media last week. According to my notes he said — I have not suggested sites at all. I have said these are some areas of the State, one of them for example the northern wheatbelt, some locations in the southern part of the State if the Commonwealth wants to look at those. I refer also to the letter that the Premier wrote to Minister Chris Evans in which he refers to discussions with the minister on 27 May 2010. It reads — I consider there are a number of areas and existing facilities that we could examine to determine whether they meet the criteria outlined above. An indicative list is: Katanning (Residential College recently closed); Yarloop (Hospital site recently closed); New Norcia Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks); When exactly was the Premier telling the truth about this matter? Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: On every occasion. Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Katanning (Residential College recently closed); Yarloop (Hospital site recently closed); New Norcia Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks);
Yarloop (Hospital site recently closed); New Norcia Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks);
New Norcia Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks);
Bindoon and Tardun (owned by the Christian Brothers); Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks);
Badgingarra Agriculture Research Station — not currently in use; Northam (unused barracks);
Northam (unused barracks);
Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: On every occasion. Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
On every occasion. Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Several members interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : I will take members through it. An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
An opposition member: You’ve been caught out. Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : It is not like the 170 000. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
The SPEAKER : I am sure the Leader of the Opposition wants an answer to the question. I am sure the Premier will provide an answer to that question. Other members in this place have no involvement at this point. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : Everyone is aware that Christmas Island is overflowing and that the policy adopted by the Rudd government to try to prevent asylum seekers travelling to Australia is not working well. However, I have not bought into that wider debate and I do not intend to. I simply make the point that in the discussions I have had with Senator Chris Evans, I have not directly or by implication endorsed the approach of the Rudd government to the asylum seeker issue. I have said that I am prepared to cooperate with the federal government to deal with the problem. Right or wrong there are so many asylum seekers that they cannot all be housed on Christmas Island and need to be located somewhere else. Leader of the Opposition, there is no point holding up the letter. The federal government decided to reopen the Curtin Air Force facility nearby Derby, which is on commonwealth land. I think it would have been nice for it to have informed the state, but it did not, and I did not take any great exception to that. The next I heard of this issue was when there were media reports about asylum seekers being sent by the commonwealth government to Leonora. I mean no disrespect to the township and community of Leonora, but I would have thought that if the federal government was going to send asylum seekers to a Western Australian country town—not a commonwealth government-owned site—and rent short-term accommodation for them, it would have been at least courteous, if nothing more, to have spoken to the state government, to inform it and to raise questions about the education of children, health services, and any policing or security issues. Leonora is in the member for Kalgoorlie’s electorate, and as he remarked last week in the house, neither local people nor the state government had any knowledge of this. Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Indeed, very little communication has taken place even to this point. For that reason, I made the point that I was unimpressed and I used the expression “sneaking around” in relation to commonwealth officials. They have been sneaking around; they have been to Tardun and other places all over the state. I would have thought it would be courtesy and commonsense for the commonwealth government to talk to the state government, because in all probability, almost any facility or site that the commonwealth government looks at would not be commonwealth land but land that is either privately owned but under state administration, or state-owned sites. I had a good conversation with Senator Evans and he conceded that point. I said to him that although I was not recommending any particular site, I was prepared to speak to state government agencies to see whether there were any sites worth even looking at. I did that in good faith. I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
I wrote to Senator Evans, and the Leader of the Opposition obviously has a copy of that letter. I did not recommend a site, but I suggested some areas in the state. Take the example of Katanning; Katanning has a Muslim population. I visited Katanning last year and I was very impressed by the way in which those two communities work well together; I think it is in the electorate of the member for Wagin. Clearly it is a community that has welcomed asylum seekers from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. They have become part of the workforce there and part of the community. It seemed to me that Katanning might be one location that could be very welcoming and tolerant of asylum seekers, and would provide care for the children in particular. I also noted in brackets that a residential college had recently closed there; I was not advocating it, but it might have been a potential site. I do not resile from that; I do not feel any embarrassment at all. Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
Peter Conran, head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet met with commonwealth government officials to discuss sites. Then what do we find? Despite my offer of goodwill and cooperation, and to make available the resources of state government departments to assist the commonwealth government, we discovered that commonwealth officials had rocked up at Muresk Agricultural College—a state-owned educational institution. Was it on the list? No. The officials arrived there without warning or invitation, and without consulting either Curtin University of Technology or the state government. That is exactly what was inappropriate about the commonwealth government’s behaviour before, and I took exception to that. It caused some distress to former graduates of Muresk, the agricultural community and members of the Western Australian Farmers Federation. It was in response to comments made by the head of the Western Australian Farmers Federation that I said that that location was not in any way suggested by the state, that it was not available and that this was not acceptable. That is why I responded. What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
What did Senator Chris Evans then do? He accused me of misleading the public when I had actually been pretty quiet on the issue and then took it upon himself to release the letter. If the Leader of the Opposition looks at the letter, he will see that it is marked “confidential”, yet Senator Chris Evans released it. Good luck to him; I am not embarrassed by it. However, I put this question to the house: what does that say to families in this country who want to write in confidence to the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and his department about matters concerning immigration? It means that what they write could be made public.
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