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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 4330 ..

MR CORNWELL: Chief Minister, if you want to put a price of $200 million on the needs of vulnerable aged people then be it on your own conscience because I don't want to do that. All I want to do is try to find a decent way for them to live out what is left of their lives with some social interaction and in some pleasant environment. I don't believe that they should be ripped out of what they are used to socially and sent elsewhere simply because bean counters believe that such a move will save money for the government. But I rest my case and we will see how the vote on my motion works out.

Question put:

That Mr Cornwell's motion be agreed to.

The Assembly voted-

 Ayes, 5  		Noes, 10

 Mr Cornwell    Mr Berry      Mr Hargreaves
 Mrs Dunne     	Mr Corbell    Ms MacDonald
 Mr Humphries   Mrs Cross     Mr Quinlan
 Mr Pratt      	Ms Dundas     Mr Stanhope
 Mr Smyth     	Ms Gallagher  Ms Tucker

Motion negatived.

Refugee convention and support for asylum seekers

MS TUCKER (9.46): I move:

Noting that Australia is a signatory to the Refugee Convention and has a moral and legal obligation to uphold its commitments to refugees and adhere to international agreements, including refugee's entitlements to all rights that are accorded to any other foreigner who is a legal resident, and given that refugees are often the most vulnerable group in any community, this Assembly calls on the ACT government to clearly state the need for Australia to adopt a humanitarian approach to people fleeing persecution and terror by:

writing to the federal government and requesting it to urgently review its policy on asylum seekers, particularly addressing:

(a) the need to abide by the 1951 Refugee Convention to give every asylum seeker the right to receive the same treatment as any foreigner who is a legal resident;

(b) the mandatory detention of asylum seekers;

(c) the treatment of asylum seekers in detention;

(d) the length of time in detention;

(e) children in detention;

(f) unaccompanied minors;

(g) temporary protection visas;

(h) stateless people;

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