Shorten was referring to the Abbott government’s policy of intercepting asylum seeker vessels at sea and forcibly diverting them away from the Australian mainland.
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A media release from Mr Shorten provided scant details on measures to be adopted to reach the target, though said the policy would distinguish Labor from the Liberal Party.
Shorten has declared it is clear that a combination of regional resettlement, offshore processing and turning back boats was defeating people smugglers.
“Everyone in Labor wants to make sure there aren’t turn-backs because there aren’t boats”.
Mr Shorten said Labor needed the power to turn back the boats, which has proved the key to the success of the Abbott government stopping the boats.
Despite being at odds with the Australian Federal government, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten announced he has plans to back the government’s policy on asylum boat turnbacks.
Victorian Labor MP Andrew Giles, who moved the resolution against turn-backs, was interrupted by raging protesters who unfurled a banner on stage reading “No refugee towbacks”. Later this week, it has been decided that the policy would be debated at ALP national conference, Skynews reported.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has vowed to rework the China free trade deal in order to safeguard local job opportunities and conditions.
Bill Shorten will open his first Labor conference as leader under pressure to tone down his rhetoric on asylum seekers and not cave into union demands that could damage his economic credentials.
However it’s understood that under the left faction’s agreement Mr Albanese will have to support a binding vote. “It is a con by a desperate leader and this latest policy will be lucky to make it to the election let alone be implemented”, Dutton said.
Labor’s left faction could win its argument that MPs be bound to vote for same-sex marriage.
“We have been working hard behind the scenes to deliver those important reforms”, he said, describing the changes as “undoubtedly the most significant reforms Labor has attempted in recent history”.
“It may well be the case that if we were to bind people in these circumstances, not only is it unenforceable but it actually is tactically the wrong-headed approach”, Senator Carr told Sky News.
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He also said Australia’s most expensive defense contract, which could cost more than 35 billion U.S. dollars, to build a new fleet of submarines would “stay home”, despite bids from Japan, Germany and France.
