Australia’s Senate has voted down an asylum bill which would have reopened an off-shore detention centre and allowed the Australian government to deport asylum-seekers to another country for processing.
The bill was supposed to deter asylum-seekers from making the long and dangerous boat journey to Australia. The defeat of the bill means the political stalemate on the asylum debate, which has been reignited by the sinking of two boats in the past week, continues.
The Australian government wants to back a deal in which they can send asylum-seekers to Malaysia in exchange for resettling U.N. recognised refugees from Kuala Lumpur.
The opposition has rejected the bill on the basis that they could not guarantee the protection of the rights of asylum seekers sent to Malaysia or any other country which has not signed the UN Convention on Refugees.
"I am calling on each and every senator today to look into their conscience, to think deeply about this," Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said, adding that if the bill did not pass, there would be no effective message of deterrence to people-smugglers.
"What it will mean is people will get on boats," she said in a radio interview.
"What we know is if people get on boats, unfortunately, tragically, awfully, some get into trouble and people lose their lives."
In August 2011, the government’s plans to implement the Malaysian deal without Parliament’s approval was ruled as illegal by the High Court.