Expert panel won't change Abbott's asylum policy
The Coalition is vowing to stick to its border protection policy regardless of whatever findings an expert panel makes, Tony Abbott has declared.
The move undermines the latest bid to end the political stalemate that has gripped Parliament since two asylum seeker boats capsized killing almost 100 people.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the formation of the panel to reassess Australia's approach to border protection issues after the Senate last night rejected legislation aimed at restoring offshore processing of refugee claims.
It will be led by former Defence Force chief Angus Houston and include long-term refugee advocate Paris Aristotle and the former head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Michael L'Estrange.
Mr Abbott has described the three panel members as people of "great distinction" but says he will not be altering the Coalition's policy.
"The Coalition doesn't need an expert committee to tell us what our policy is, because we have a policy and it's a policy that we will stick to," Mr Abbott told journalists in Melbourne.
"Only the Government needs to sub-contract policy out to an expert group because we have a policy."
In announcing the plan last night, Ms Gillard said the expert panel would be given free rein to consult widely and make recommendations - including scrapping Labor's plan to send asylum seekers to Malaysia.
"I want to be absolutely clear here; Angus Houston and the team he leads are free to come to any conclusion that they want to, any conclusion that they believe is in the national interest," Ms Gillard said last night.
"I would not be setting up this group if I wasn't prepared to take on board ... the recommendations of this panel."
Ms Gillard has written to the Opposition, the Greens and the independents, inviting them to participate in a parliamentary reference group that will liaise with the panel.
Late night 'stunts'
Bleary-eyed MPs are now returning to their electorates for the six-week winter break, having failed to break the political deadlock.
The House of Representatives sat until 4:19am (AEST) following a "last-ditch" effort by independent MP Andrew Wilkie to bring on the Opposition's bill to allow offshore processing of asylum seekers in countries that have ratified the United Nations Refugee Convention.
Mr Wilkie won the vote but did not get an absolute majority of 76 votes needed to debate the bill.
"I don't believe that parliamentarians should be going into recess for six weeks when such an important matter remains unresolved," Mr Wilkie told ABC News this morning.
"We should be sitting today, we should have continued sitting last night, we should sit next week, we should sit until we get a solution.
"I think there is every chance in the world that more people will die during this six-week recess."
Today, another asylum seeker boat was intercepted north of Christmas Island with 100 people on board.
But fellow crossbencher Rob Oakeshott has fired back at Mr Wilkie's late-night manoeuvre, describing it as nothing more than a "stunt" because MPs had not seen the Opposition's legislation and were not given any notice of the debate.
"We can either deal with this in good faith... or we're pulling stunts on unicycles, juggling balls, with spinny hats," Mr Oakeshott told journalists in Canberra.
"If there is a bill, let's see it," he said. "I haven't seen it."
His comments have been backed by fellow independent MP Tony Windsor, who says he advised Mr Wilkie to not go ahead with the plan.
"(To) just drag a bill no-one has ever read into the Parliament just smacks of more of the politics of this week," Mr Windsor said.
The Greens have been coming under pressure from all sides to give ground in the debate and back down from their strong opposition to offshore processing.
Mr Windsor and Mr Oakeshott believe there was a brief moment of time during the debate when it appeared the Greens were seriously considering backing a compromise solution put forward by Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison.
The amendment would have allowed offshore processing in countries that had signed the UN refugee convention - a move that would have effectively scuttled Labor's plan to send asylum seekers to Malaysia.
"There was a period in our House the other night where (there was) the prospect of Scott Morrison's amendments ... being supported by the Greens," Mr Windsor said.
"They, apparently, were prepared to discuss the option of offshore processing - not in Malaysia but in Nauru."
The move would have been a sharp turnaround from the Greens' strong opposition to offshore processing, but the party has moved swiftly to stamp out the suggestions.
"We have been absolutely steadfast in our opposition of crude offshore processing - Malaysia or Nauru," Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
"We were never going to accept the idea of shirking our responsibilities under the (refugee) convention."
Mr Abbott said while there were discussions between the Coalition and the Greens, there was no agreement.
"My understanding is that they were considering our proposal, but they never agreed to abandon their opposition to offshore processing," Mr Abbott said.