Labor’s Richard Marles is looking for any diversion he can find to try to paper over the growing chasm in Labor over border protection policies.
Mr Marles wants Australians to believe that Labor in Government would continue with the Coalition’s tough border polices that have stopped the boats, emptied detention centres and gotten children out of detention.
But his Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek gave the game away this week. To her, boat turn-backs and regional processing of illegal maritime arrivals are “toxic.”
These are the very policies Mr Marles says a future Labor Government would implement yet the Opposition’s Deputy Leader clearly does not support them.
In a Shorten Government Ms Plibersek would be the Foreign Minister and move to water down border protection, perhaps even throwing the borders open just as Labor did in the Rudd-Gillard years.
But then Mr Shorten’s reign is waning and Ms Plibersek is standing right behind him with a firm eye on the top job.
Her comments on border protection policies this week show that Australia will be in for a repeat if Labor ever returns to Government.
Kevin Rudd said he was tough and would turn boats back, but once in Government he handed control of our borders to the people smugglers.
Australians know the result and can see it happening again.
In Opposition Labor says it’s tough, in Government it goes to water.
Tanya Plibersek’s left wing of the party would do it all over again.
Richard Marles needs to tell Australians how he would stop Tanya Plibersek, before he even tries to tell them how he would keep the boats stopped.