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December 20th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda AAP
The federal government has suggested it might be willing to abandon its Malaysian solution for asylum seekers to secure a compromise with the coalition on offshore processing.
But the opposition insists it won’t engage in fresh talks until Labor puts a proposal in writing, something the government has declared it won’t do because it would limit the scope of discussions.
The renewed talk of offshore processing as a means of deterring boat arrivals comes as the search continues for up to 200 asylum seekers feared drowned after their boat sank on the weekend off Indonesia.
Acting Prime Minister Wayne Swan on Tuesday warned that rough weather in the region made it more urgent for Australia to act quickly to stop people smugglers sending more boats.
“We can only do that if we can get the agreement of the parliament to offshore processing,” he told reporters in Darwin.
“We know there’s going to be some rough weather in the region where this boat went down and it’s going to be there for some time.
“The prospect before us, given the weather patterns, given the numbers that have been on the boats so far, is very bleak.”
The government has revealed Julia Gillard wrote to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott last Wednesday offering to recall parliament to pass amendments to the Migration Act to put offshore processing back on strong legal ground.
Mr Abbott previously has refused to back the changes unless they expressly rule out Malaysia as a destination for asylum seekers as Kuala Lumpur hasn’t signed the UN refugee convention.
On Tuesday, he said the opposition wouldn’t reopen talks unless Labor put forward a specific proposal in writing.
“The government’s failure to present the opposition with a clear policy proposal suggests either that it has none to put forward or that its internal divisions are preventing it from developing one,” Mr Abbott said in a statement.
But Mr Swan says the government doesn’t want to limit the scope of the talks.
“I don’t think we should be putting parameters around the discussion,” he said.
“We are prepared to sit down and have a constructive discussion.
“We haven’t gone out to say that ‘this is ruled in, that is ruled out’.”
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says any change of tack must be the result of a joint position formulated by himself and opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison in good faith.
“We know how Mr Abbott works,” Mr Bowen told reporters in Sydney.
“If we were to formulate a position in public and put it to him he would reject it.”
But Mr Morrison isn’t convinced Labor’s offer of a compromise is genuine.
“Even today he (Mr Bowen) was unable to commit to shifting the government’s ground one inch,” the Liberal frontbencher told reporters in Sydney.
“The government has made no indication that it’s prepared to change their view.”
Despite the government’s talk of developing a joint position Mr Swan insisted the Malaysian solution remained the most effective way of sending a message to people smugglers.
Mr Bowen seemed equally reluctant to let go of the policy he wrote.
“We believe the Malaysia agreement is absolutely essential to ensuring the deterrent to get on the boat,” he said.
The so-called Malaysia solution envisaged Australia sending boat arrivals to Malaysia in return for accepting 4000 authorised refugees in Malaysia.
The opposition wants Labor to reintroduce temporary protection visas before Christmas and process asylum seekers on Nauru.
Greens leader Bob Brown later said it was inevitable that boats would continue to arrive – whether Australia had offshore or onshore processing.
“There is no end to it,” he told reporters in Canberra.
That meant authorities had an obligation to track asylum seekers as they made the perilous sea journey to Australia.
“If we know that boats are on the move they should be tracked all the way,” Senator Brown said.
“It’s inevitable some people are going to set off in boats … and get into trouble and we need to give them assistance when that happens.”
The Greens also want Australia to increase its refugee intake by almost 10,000 to 25,000 people annually.
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