OH BRENDAN!!! Brendan O'Connor

“Look, if we were to agree upon this in the parliament, we would be able to return people to a transit country safely. We would be able to do that without potentially causing the deaths of our own personnel, causing deaths of men, women and children on the high sea. Even if you had any doubt about it at all—even though this has been recommended by the former Chief of the Defence Force...”

“I rise to respond to the member for Cook. Firstly, I would like also to reflect on Refugee Day today. I think it is important that the parliament recognise a very important day for refugees around the world. In fact, on Saturday I was at an event recognising our 800,000th refugee—just in excess of what was referred to by the member for Cook—arriving and being settled in Australia...”

“These are the sorts of games we expect from the opposition. They do not want to talk about this matter, because in the end they are not concerned about Australian workers. This is the party of Work Choices trying to prevent opportunities for Australians. This is the party of Work Choices trying to deny young graduates entry-level professional jobs. These reforms are necessary to ensure they...”