Tony Abbott apologises for drawing Malaysia into asylum stoush with Labor

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/08/abbott-apologises-asylum-malaysia-solution

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Tony Abbott has apologised to his Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak, for drawing his country into a domestic partisan stoush over asylum seekers in 2012.

The Australian prime minister has used the occasion of a bilateral meeting on the fringes of the Apec summit to make an "act of contrition" to the Malaysian prime minister concerning his partisan posture during Australia's political debate about the so-called "Malaysia solution" under the previous Gillard government.

"I guess you might say that in my own way I offered an apology because I appreciate this was a difficult situation for Malaysia," Abbott told reporters in Bali on Tuesday after the bilateral meeting with Najib.

"I made it very clear to prime minister Najib that our opposition was never to Malaysia, it was to the former government."

Abbott and various Coalition frontbenchers were profoundly critical of the people-swap deal negotiated with Malaysia by the Gillard Labor government.

The deal would have seen 800 boat arrivals returned to Malaysia for processing in exchange for Australia accepting 4,000 people already assessed in the region as refugees. But the arrangement was struck down by the high court, and the Coalition voted against an attempt by Labor to enact new laws preserving the agreement.

During a fiery debate in parliament in June 2012 various frontbenchers blasted the policy, criticising Malaysia for dictating Australia's immigration policy, and querying the country's record on human rights.

During the debate, the then shadow treasurer Joe Hockey described the Malaysia agreement as evil. "I'll say it deliberately to this parliament. I will never, ever support a people-swap where you can send a 13-year-old child unaccompanied to a country without supervision. Never. It will be over my dead body."

Abbott has now used the APEC summit to mend diplomatic fences with Malaysia. He said he recognised that Malaysia had been motivated by trying to assist Australia with a complex public policy problem.

But the Australian prime minister continued to argue on Tuesday that the Malaysia solution was "not a very good deal". He indicated he would stick with Labor's regional resettlement agreement with Papua New Guinea rather than attempt to revive an agreement with Malaysia.

"The problem with the Malaysia deal was it was ruled illegal by the high court and nothing has changed," Abbott said.

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