10th Nov 2016, 12:44 PM – Representatives Migration Legislation Amendment (Regional Processing Cohort) Bill 2016 - Second Reading - Put the motion

The majority voted in favour of speeding things along and having the vote on a particular motion immediately rather than discussing it any further.

What was the motion that they were discussing?

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie introduced the motion and both Independent MP Cathy McGowan and Greens MP Adam Bandt supported it.

It was that:

'the House declines to give the bill a second reading and instead:

(1) acknowledges that the global refugee crisis is for Australia a humanitarian challenge and not a border security problem;

(2) notes that Australia's response to asylum seekers will inevitably require a genuinely regional solution involving most, if not all south-east Asian countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand, and be approved by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;

(3) insists that Australia's response to asylum seekers be consistent with all of our international treaty obligations including the Refugee Convention, the Rome Statute, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and

*(4) calls on the Government to develop and implement a sophisticated policy response to this challenge that as far as possible deals with the situation in source countries, countries of first asylum and transit countries.' *

Who supported the motion?

When the vote on whether to agree to the motion was taken, only MPs Wilkie, McGowan and Bandt voted in favour of it. Since there has to be at least five MPs on either side of the vote for an official division to be recorded, the result of the vote was recorded in Votes and Proceedings but not in Hansard and, therefore, not on They Vote For You.