Labor might support boats turn-back policy LABOR has given its strongest signal yet that it would continue the Coalition’s controversial boats turnback policy, but only if it didn’t “erode” Australia’s relationship with Indonesia.
Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles conceded he had “no doubt at all” about the impact the turnback policy had made, but said concerns remained.
“It has had an impact … and it has, it has to be said, in combination with a regional settlement arrangement which Labor put in place, with the offshore processing network which Labor put in place,” he told Sky News’s Australian Agenda.
“We get the impact but we do have anxieties about the policy … We need to have the government explaining to us how this is able to be done safely. And perhaps just as significantly, how does this all work in the context of our relationship with Indonesia?”
Mr Marles claimed Indonesians “obviously hate this policy” but, if that was to change, the Labor Party “might” support it.
“We’ve got two issues … One is safety at sea and one is making sure that this arrangement does not erode our relationship with Indonesia,” he said.
