There were three critical ‘decision months’.…….The first was September 2011 when the Coalition in the House of Representatives with the help of the Greens MP and Independents rejected amendments to the Migration Act that would have enabled the Gillard government to implement the Malaysian Arrangement. It was necessary to amend the Migration Act in light of a High Court decision.
Under the Malaysian Arrangement 800 boat arrivals in Australia would initially be repatriated to Malaysia and Australia would accept from Malaysia 4,000 refugees who had been orderly processed in Malaysia in cooperation with the UNHCR. With the collapse of the Malaysian Solution, when four to five boats a month were arriving, there was a steady and then rapid increase in boat arrivals until July 2013 when 48 boats arrived…..
John Menadue: Abbott and Morrison did not stop the boats, but the media collaborated in the spin