Topics: Fast track processing of illegal maritime arrivals, Australia Day citizenship ceremonies

OLIVER PETERSON: The Labor Party and the Greens, well, they're playing politics with our borders. They have teamed up to block government legislation aimed at fast tracking illegal boat arrivals.

To discuss, the Immigration Minister is David Coleman, who joins us live on the radio this afternoon.

Hello, Minister.

DAVID COLEMAN: Good afternoon, Oly.

OLIVER PETERSON: Firstly, Labor argues that the fast track policy is not fast nor fair. Why do

they want to team up with the Greens? Why do they want to scrap it?

DAVID COLEMAN: Well, they always team up with the Greens on these border protection issues, Oly, and they've never been believers in border security. It was on their watch that 50,000 people arrived and 8000 kids were placed in detention and tragically, 1200 people drowned at sea.

What this is about is, we've got a process now when if someone who arrived by boat doesn't like the decision, there’s a process for review of that decision, usually it takes about 23 days. Labor and the Greens want to have a different process that takes more than 500 days. This is for people who arrived years and years ago under Labor, and now Labor is basically saying they want the processing time to take even longer, even though they're the ones responsible for these people being here in the first place.

OLIVER PETERSON: Why is that the case, David Coleman? Why do they want it to take over 500 days?

DAVID COLEMAN: Well, Kristina Keneally said that our process is neither fast nor fair and she's completely wrong because it's definitely fast. It's only about 23 days on average. And the High Court has found that it is a fair process and the former High Court judge Ian Callinan, in a review of these matters, found the same thing. So it is fair. It gives people the opportunity to put forward their case. But what it doesn't do is create a whole new process, like a court-type process with witnesses and new information being introduced and all those things that drags on and on, and nor should it because this is a fair process, but it's a process that can be done quickly. And it's the right process and Labor and the Greens want to get rid of it to make this take even longer.

OLIVER PETERSON: Alright. So if they're successful in teaming up with this disallowance motion, how many boat arrivals would no longer be considered as fast track applicants?

DAVID COLEMAN: Well, this specifically applies to 4000 people, Oly. So there'll be 4000 people who if they try to appeal, instead of going 23 days, it'll be 500 and every one of those 4000 people are people who arrived under Labor when they lost control of our borders.

OLIVER PETERSON: So at the moment, the fast track system, if somebody arrived by boat in Australia - and I don't believe we've had anybody arrive in the last 23 days that we know about - how long will it take to process their claims for asylum in the first phase?

DAVID COLEMAN: Well, it can take quite a long time, Oly, because a lot of the people who arrived, in fact, the vast majority of the people who arrived under Labor, we don't have identity documents, there's no passports. So just the process of actually assessing it can take actually years to determine the identity of these people and assess their claims. This issue is about after that's happened and they want to appeal, we say: alright, well, we've already gone through this process to assess you, we'll have a fast track appeal process, 23 days. Labor says: no, that's not enough. They want to team up with the Greens to make that a much longer 500-day plus process.

OLIVER PETERSON: We have heard from the Greens senator Nick McKim, who says this has no impact at all on border security, but what it does do is have an impact on people who are in an extremely vulnerable group. What would you say back to Nick McKim?

DAVID COLEMAN: Well, what I'd say to Nick McKim is that with Labor and the Greens and their disastrous handling of these policies that led directly to 50,000 people arriving and lead directly to appalling humanitarian consequences - not to mention $17 billion and counting to Australian taxpayers. So, we manage these processes in an orderly way. We stopped the boats and we manage these appeal processes in an efficient way. Labor wants to send the message that you can stay and appeal and appeal and appeal. And what we say is: appeal processes need to be efficient and not drag on forever, and Labor is saying they want it to take much longer.

OLIVER PETERSON: On another matter, what do you think about Port Phillip Council in Victoria wanting to hold a Morning for Mourning event on Australia Day?

DAVID COLEMAN: Well, look, what we've done, Oly, is say that this year, every council needs to hold a citizenship ceremony on Australia Day and there were, as you know, a number of councils that, for political reasons, were saying they weren't going to do it in previous years. So a few weeks ago, I changed the Citizenship Code of Australia to require all councils, except for the very smallest councils, to have a citizenship ceremony on Australia Day.

Now, my understanding is that this council will be holding a citizenship ceremony on Australia Day, and that's my focus. That's a good thing and that's a requirement, because if councils don't want to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day, we will require - we will take away their right to hold citizenship ceremonies because Australia Day is a really important day. It's our national day. There's no better day to become a citizen than Australia Day. This year, we're going to be requiring all councils, except for the very smallest, to make sure that happens.

OLIVER PETERSON: Are you disappointed though that this sort of an event would go ahead at the Port Phillip Council on Australia Day?

DAVID COLEMAN: Well, look, I'm not fully across what the council is planning and matters for the council about how they run their affairs is a matter for them. What I'm focused on is citizenship ceremonies, making sure we get as many people as possible to have the opportunity of becoming an Australian on Australia Day, and we're not going to have councils create political reasons to not hold citizenship ceremonies. We're not going to accept that. We're not going to have councils say it's too hot to hold a ceremony on Australia Day, or it's inconvenient, or all the various excuses. We're not going to accept that. And as a result, I think what we'll see this year is a very, very significant number of people become citizens on Australia Day, and that's a great thing.

OLIVER PETERSON: Minister, appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

DAVID COLEMAN: Thanks Oly

[ENDS]