The fight over Labor’s refugee policy is gearing up, with the new Batman MP, Ged Kearney, expected to lay the first signpost for where the debate is headed in her maiden speech to parliament on Monday. With Labor’s national conference approaching in July, the battlelines over numerous policy positions are being drawn up. But it’s refugee policy, a flashpoint of the fight between the left and the right at the 2015 national conference, which Bill Shorten and the right ultimately won, that is shaping up as one of the biggest battles. The 90-day processing rule would not cover refugees on Nauru or Manus, given that they have already been processed. Deals with other countries remain one of Labor’s only options to close the camps, after Shorten committed to prevent refugees on Manus and Nauru settling in Australia.

Source: The Guardian May 20, 2018 22:18 UTC