Chris Evans' speech on the closing of detention centres outlines Labor's policy toward what the Howard Government called illegals. The closing of the detention centres and some of the worst abuses of arbitrary governance from the Howard Government are very welcome. There is no information whether the hole in the Migration Act that allows the executive to act arbitrarily will be closed or not.
While the Pacific Solution is being dismantled mandatory detention will persist and the use of military assets to police immigration will also be used - for a task which is civil. The Rudd Government will also keep the arbitrary definition of what Australia geographically is by having - what will be politically motivated - 'excision zone'.
However it is good news that a more liberal and humane approach will be taken toward this aspect of immigration and that executive and political excess will be halted by Evans and the Rudd Government. Which will be a good thing.
