[Greens-Media] No advantage; $7.5b of cruelty

[Schultz-Byard, Noah (Sen S. Hanson-Young)]

MEDIA RELEASE

Tuesday, 14 May 2013

No advantage; $7.5b of cruelty

It is shameful that the government has chosen to spend more than double on its no advantage rule and offshore processing regime than it has on its new education and disability programs over the forward estimates, the Australian Greens have said.

"Tonight's budget has revealed the hideous cost that Australians are paying for Labor's inhumane and ineffective refugee policy," the Greens immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"The $7.5 billion committed to locking up refugees, including children and families, over the forward estimates is double the entire funding committed to Gonski and the NDIS over the same period.

"The government has lost touch with reality if it thinks that the Australian people will accept its empty line of 'deterrence' and its $7.5 billion price tag.

"With more than 18,000 people arriving in Australia by boat since the new regime started, it is clear that the government's policy is a spectacularly expensive failure.

"If the government scrapped its policy of punishing refugees rather than cutting university funding and payments to single mothers, Australia would be a wealthier, smarter and more caring country."


Media Contact: Noah Schultz-Byard 0427 604 760


NOAH SCHULTZ-BYARD  MEDIA ADVISER

OFFICE OF SENATOR SARAH HANSON-YOUNG
AUSTRALIAN GREENS SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
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