Nothing has changed since John Howard's ill-judged and dangerous migration amendment bill was first introduced into the federal parliament in May to suggest it now deserves support. Even in its present form, mildly watered-down after a backbench revolt, the bill represents the worst kind of policy-making, trading Australian sovereignty to appease Jakarta's anger over our granting protection to 42 Papuan asylum-seekers in March.
Instead of using diplomacy to assert Australian sovereignty when Jakarta threw a tantrum over the decision, the Prime Minister came up with a bill to ensure anyone arriving illegally on Australian shores by boat is taken offshore for assessment. In the process, he handed Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono the right to decide who comes to this country and under what circumstances.
The Australian backed Mr Howard in 2001 over his controversial Pacific solution, which succeeded in stopping people smugglers exploiting the tide of human misery produced by upheaval in the Middle East. But this newspaper cannot support a measure that undermines Australian sovereignty.
Arguing against the bill yesterday, Labor immigration spokesman Tony Burke observed that almost five years has passed since more than 300 desperate men, women and children drowned in a failed attempt by criminals to smuggle them into Australia on board the unseaworthy Siev-X.
In stark contrast, the modest boatload of 43 Papuans who landed on Cape York in January were possibly the first to do so in the four decades since Indonesia imposed its administration in the Papuan capital, Jayapura. The spectre raised earlier this year of a flotilla of vessels carrying asylum-seekers from the troubled Indonesian province to northern Australia has not eventuated in the hiatus while the bill is debated, and is not likely to.
In June, Mr Howard attempted to defend his legislation on the basis of Jakarta's continuing role in helping to prevent people-smuggling. But 43 people climbing into their own canoe to flee persecution does not meet any sensible definition of people-smuggling.
At least four Liberal backbenchers have indicated they will cross the floor to vote against the legislation today, and Mr Howard faces the possibility of the bill failing in the Senate. It should. Jakarta's silence following the granting of a protection visa to the last of the 43 Papuan asylum-seekers, David Wainggai, 10 days ago suggests the whole affair was a storm in a tea cup and underlines Mr Howard's poor judgment in the scale of his response.
Our existing arrangements are entirely capable of weighing the claims of Papuan asylum-seekers at the same time as supporting legitimate Indonesian territorial sovereignty. Rather than attempting to intimidate Australia, Jakarta would do better to focus on improving conditions for the Papuans in its eastern-most province.