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Tue, 27 Jul 2010
SYDNEY, Australia (SMH) ---- Opening a centre at Nauru to process asylum seekers is nothing but a desperate opposition stunt, says Labor campaign spokesman Chris Bowen.
Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop and immigration spokesman Scott Morrison are meeting Nauru's foreign minister, Kieren Keke, in Brisbane on Tuesday to discuss reactivating the Australian-built centre on Nauru.
The island nation is keen for the detention facility, which was built by the Howard government, to be used again, however Labor has dismissed the idea because Nauru is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention.
Mr Bowen on Tuesday labelled the opposition's interest in Nauru "a stunt".
“The opposition has previously said they couldn't enter into any negotiations with Nauru,” he told reporters in Sydney.
“Now there's an election campaign... this is a stunt. This is a massive stunt from a desperate opposition.
“From our point of view, we've said we needed a regional approach, but that the regional processing centre would need to be, for the sake of decency, at a country which is a signatory to the refugee convention.
“Nauru is not currently a signatory to the refugee convention.
“That is why we have focused our discussions with East Timor, and we will continue to explore that regional approach.”
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