Senator CONROY (Victoria—Leader of the Government in the Senate, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Digital Productivity) (14:12): It will not come as a shock to you, Senator Ronaldson, but I have not seen the letter. On the general issues that you raise, I say again that it is hard to take you seriously when you do not want to support legislation that can put a stop to the people-smuggling rings. If you are not prepared to vote in this chamber to put a stop to the people-smuggling rings, to take away the incentive for those rings to use Australia as a target, if you will not support that, do not come in here and think you have any credibility whatsoever to mount an argument about the plight of these people. With the way refugees were treated under the Howard government, when they were demonised in language and demonised in the way they were treated, when your own back bench forced a revolt on you to take children out of detention— Senator Abetz: Nonsense! Senator CONROY: Your back bench joined with us to force you to take them out—good members like Ms Moylan and others joined with many in the community and many in this building to force the Howard government to change its policy position. Do not come into this chamber and continue to pretend that you have the remotest interest in the genuine position of people in these circumstances—people who have been fleeing from persecution, fleeing from all sorts of horrors, surviving trips that they should not have been taking. They are taking these trips because you do not have the courage to stop playing politics. That is what this debate is about. Those opposite will not stop playing politics with this, and they stand shamed by their irresponsible behaviour and their willingness to keep those people-smuggling rings alive.