Frontbencher Anthony Albanese says he opposes calls from some of his Labor colleagues to introduce a time limit on how long asylum seekers can be held in Australia’s offshore detention centres.
Mr Albanese made the comments in an interview with Sky News on Tuesday evening, distancing himself from colleague Linda Burney’s calls for “limits” on how long asylum seekers can be held on Manus Island and Nauru.
“I do think that you can be tough on people smugglers, and Labor would be … without being weak on humanity,” Mr Albanese said.
Australia’s current policy, supported by both the Coalition and Labor, is that no asylum seekers who arrive by boat are allowed to settle in Australia.
Instead, they are taken to offshore processing centres, and eventually either returned to their home country, settled in Papua New Guinea, or offered a place through a settlement deal with another country like the United States.
Many end up staying in the offshore camps for years while their refugee claims are processed.
Labor’s recent Victorian state conference was due to debate a motion to close the offshore camps but the motion was postponed, angering some in the Left faction and prompting attacks from the Coalition about “division” in the party.
Time limits may be debated at Labor’s upcoming national conference, despite Labor leader Bill Shorten’s insistence the party’s policy will not change.
Mr Albanese said he did not support time limits on detention and confirmed he supported the policy of never allowing boat arrivals to settle in Australia – a policy designed to prevent deaths at sea.
But he said there could be a number of changes to make the system more humane, like increasing the total number of refugees accepted and improving deals with third countries, similar to the existing deal that will see the .
Mr Shorten also advocates more settlement deals, including accepting the offer from New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton has criticised the New Zealand offer as a potential signal to people smugglers that a “backdoor” would open to Australia, given the relative ease of moving across the Tasman.
But prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said the after the US deal was completed.
Denies leadership challenge
During the Sky News interview, Mr Albanese denied any plan to challenge for the leadership if Labor lost one or more of the upcoming July by-elections.
"Not at all. Firstly, we intend to win the by-elections," he said.
"I've visited all of the seats. We intend to win those seats but we also aren't focused on ourselves."
The by-elections will be held on July 28.
Mr Albanese, considered the most popular alternative Labor captain, previously contested a leadership ballot with Bill Shorten in 2013.
He won the rank-and-file vote but lost the caucus vote to the current opposition leader, who has been in the role for five years.
“I accepted the decision in 2013 and what I’ve done is to the best of my capacity go about my job, doing it every day for the Labor cause,” Mr Albanese said.
“You can only have one captain and that captain is Bill Shorten.”
- Additional reporting by AAP.
