Speech seen as boats bait

PEOPLE smugglers will be celebrating a new Labor backbencher’s sympathetic speech on asylum seekers to Parliament, the Government claims.

In her maiden speech on Monday, former trade unionist and now member for Batman, Ged Kearney, pledged her time in Parliament would be committed to pursuing humane refugee policy.

“We’ve watched this movie before,” Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said yesterday.

He claimed if Labor won the next federal election, the “unravelling” of Coalition border protection policies would mean people smugglers would be back in business.