Senator STERLE (Western Australia) (15:46): Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. I do not realise how lucky I am sometimes. And I do appreciate your assistance, and that of the opposition too. I do wish to make comment today on this matter of public importance— Senator Parry: So important that you didn't turn up! Senator STERLE: I was actually in a committee and trying to discuss aviation safety in this country, which I do put great importance on. So I will not apologise—through you, Mr Acting Deputy President—for having the nation's travelling safety at heart before this frivolous MPI. I just want to quote those words from Senator Fifield: The Gillard government's failure to secure Australia's borders and refusal— this is the key, if we are going to get some truth out here— to implement effective and humane policies to deny people smugglers the product they sell. Most times I am proud to be a Western Australian; in fact, nearly all the time I am proud to be a Western Australian. I am a first-generation Australian—my parents were both from overseas, my father from war-torn Europe and my mother from war-torn England. My father came out under similar circumstances to those in which we see people coming to Australia now: fleeing conflict. But I just want to say this: he was invited to this country. He came to this country in the late forties, after the war, with his five sisters and his mother and father—a brother was lost in the war—and he was so proud to make this country his home. He was so proud that he was afforded the opportunity to be given a brand-new life in a wonderful country such as Australia. But I am so darned—I was going to say 'damned', but I will not—embarrassed when I hear people absolutely attack at every opportunity people— Senator Cash: Tut, tut, tut! Senator STERLE: I see Senator Cash shaking her head over there. This makes me even wilder. I saw Senator Cash in action up in Northam, absolutely thriving with racist comments that were thrown out of the public meeting! Senator Cash: And we saw you in Northam—you kept silent! You were ashamed! The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Senator STERLE: There were 800 good people there. No—there were not 800 good people. There were 800 people, and the majority in Northam went to give questions and to hear answers from their elected representatives. Senator Cash: And they didn't get any! There were no government members there. Senator STERLE: When I turned up I was not allowed to speak! So don't you start that rubbish on me, you hypocrite! You absolute hypocrite! Senator Cash interjecting— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! It is out of order to shout across the chamber and to address a senator on the other side. You will make your address through the chair. Senator Cormann: Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. The senator referred to Senator Cash in an unparliamentary fashion, and I think you should ask him to withdraw. He called her a hypocrite. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I am sorry—I did not hear that word used. But if you used the word 'hypocrite' then it is unparliamentary, Senator Sterle, and I ask you to withdraw. Senator STERLE: I will withdraw. But I will not withdraw from my refrain to say how embarrassed I am when I go and hear the minority, the rabble—the horrible, ugly minority—that just want to throw every disgusting barb at people who seek asylum in this fantastic country. To hear comments like, 'They'll slit your throats,' and, 'We should use them as target practice for our Navy while they are floating around on the boats,' hurts me—and I do not think that I am alone here—and I am absolutely disgusted to think that fellow Australians have this view. And it is probably not that much of a minority—I hope it is a minority; but we hear this nonsense coming from the other side of the chamber about what a threat and fear asylum seekers are to our borders. I read this rubbish here about our having failed in 'humane policies to deny people smugglers the product they sell', so we had better get a few facts out here quite clearly. I did not have to, but I opened the Australian newspaper on the weekend, and there is the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, on a wonderful opportunity for the Liberal Party to get some media on the weekend and visit Nauru, to get a photo of him sticking his head through a window and saying that the Nauru detention centre is ready to open up—let's get going. I have been told—and I will be very happy to come into this chamber and apologise profusely if I give the chamber the wrong information or mislead the chamber—that what he stuck his head into was the Nauru primary school. Yes, it used to be the detention centre—and it is now the primary school. So it would be very interesting to know from those opposite who like to condemn everyone who was not born here in Australia—who should not be allowed into our country—why Mr Abbott was sticking his head through a school window. Was he saying that the Nauru school should be shut and those children should be sent elsewhere? What was he actually saying? I think the fourth estate have got a role to play here by reporting and telling the truth. I think they have been very poor in certain circumstances with that. Nauru was not a humane way of taking the product that the people smugglers sell. What actually happened was that 70 per cent—and I will be challenged on that; I am happy to take that argument up—of those who went to Nauru, including children, who were locked behind barbed wire for three, four or five years, came to Australia. It is a well-known fact that that lot over that side of the chamber and on the other side of this great building failed to tell the complete truth that we all know darn well: that Nauru is not a signatory to the UNHCR. We all know that. So Mr Abbott can run around, and he can take every photo opportunity and stick his head into every school window on Nauru that he wants to—but tell the truth. Senator Cormann: Neither is Malaysia! Senator STERLE: You want to talk about Malaysia? I will talk about Malaysia. I am happy to have this conversation—through you, Mr Acting Deputy President—with any senator on that side of the chamber at any time, because I do not have a problem with genuine refugees seeking refuge in Australia. I have no problem, and I have full support from Minister Bowen and Prime Minister Gillard, with the Malaysian solution. Just so we get this very clear, currently in Australia 13,750 refugees are accepted in our country every year. It was no different when Mr Howard was the Prime Minister and it is no different now. What we have proposed with the Malaysian solution is that the next 800 who come across on boats seeking asylum illegally will be sent to Malaysia. In exchange for those 800 we will receive, in the four years after, an extra 1,000 people per year—1,000 genuine asylum seekers who seek refuge in Australia. What that will take us to is that, instead of taking 13,750 refugees, we will be taking 14,750 refugees. There is no disguise; there are no lies or mistruths. That is clearly what the deal is. If that deters those scum of the earth, the people smugglers, takes away their trade and does not use the asylum seekers as the pawns then we should be getting full support from the other side of the chamber. We should have full, unequivocal support from that side of the chamber. They should give us a hand and support us in our efforts—not leave people languishing in Nauru for three, four and five years, including having children behind barbed wire, but support us in our efforts. Opposition senators interjecting— Senator STERLE: It is very mischievous, and, you know what, Mr Acting Deputy President Ferguson? I have the greatest respect for you as the Acting Deputy President. I am ignoring the remarks from the other side of the chamber because they really are stupid. They are absolutely incoherent, and it is just opportunism. As I said to you, Mr Acting Deputy President, as a first-generation Australian— Opposition senators interjecting— Senator STERLE: I am so sorry, Mr Deputy President, because I forgot that you do have another week to go and it is fantastic that you are still here. I am sorry, Mr Deputy President. As a first generation Australian, it does hurt me to think that Australians have this belief that no-one should be allowed in this country unless they are born here. (Time expired)