Former minister Amanda Vanstone says she has no regrets about the Howard government's approach to refugees and asylum seekers.
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Cabinet papers released under the 20-year rule by the National Archives of Australia provide insight into the deliberations of John Howard and his ministers on dealing with boat arrivals in 2002.
Mr Howard famously told parliament in August 2001: "We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come."
His policies and actions were roundly condemned by human rights organisations, most notably over the legally ambiguous refusal to disembark 433 rescued asylum seekers on board the Norwegian MV Tampa.
In March 2002, then immigration minister Philip Ruddock brought to cabinet the idea of a purpose-built facility on Christmas Island - as well as expanding the Villawood centre in Sydney and setting up the Baxter facility in South Australia - to cope with rising demand.
While government departments broadly agreed with the plan, the attorney-general's department said special attention needed to be given to women and children.
And the industry department questioned whether the Christmas Island facility would clash with a proposed space port.
The cabinet received a paper on long-term solutions which raised the issue of using Queensland prisons to house asylum seekers, but it noted "detention in prisons attracts the heightened interest of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and the Ombudsman".
The cabinet decision in favour of the facilities was backed by $81.4 million in spending.
Ms Vanstone said she regretted the fact the government did not get people to understand Australia's generosity towards refugees, being one of the top places for permanent resettlement in the world.
"We were spending large amounts of money on fabulous resettlement programs," she said at a media briefing to release the cabinet papers.
"We didn't just take you and stick you under a UN plastic tent - we gave these people a new decent life, education, housing, the lot."
She said it was important to have systems in place to control migration, which required "hard decisions".
"If you don't have something that says no, you have an open gate policy, and we've never had that we never will."
The cabinet papers also showed a battle over the level of the non-humanitarian intake with the finance department supporting 93,000 and others backing a higher figure.
The cabinet compromised on an intake of 105,000.
But, interestingly, advice given to the cabinet in April 2002 of the national population reaching 25 million by 2050 was well off the actual result - Australia hit this milestone in mid-2018.
Australian Associated Press
