Libs back tough immigration policy: MP

The federal Liberal Party is fully behind a return to tough immigration measures
last seen under the Howard government, Opposition immigration spokesman Scott
Morrison says.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on Thursday flagged a return to the Pacific Solution
and vowed to "turn back boats" as part of a raft of measures aimed at toughening up
Australia's border protection regime.
But there have been rumblings of discontent from moderate elements in the party,
with sources confirming it was not taken to the party room before being announced.
Mr Morrison told AAP the party was "100 per cent behind" the policy.
He was speaking after a boat carrying 53 suspected asylum seekers was boarded by
authorities at Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island on Saturday.
"We've absolutely reached a tipping point and the only way to deal with this whole
situation is to get at the root causes," he told AAP.
Mr Abbott and Mr Morrison were forced to cut short a media conference on the issue
on Saturday after being heckled outside Sydney's Villawood immigration detention
centre.
Members of the refugee human rights group Refugee Action Committee began shouting at
the pair just seconds after the conference began, Fairfax Radio Network reported.
Meanwhile, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has raised concerns about the length of
time some asylum seekers are being held at Villawood.
She highlighted the fact that a baby boy has been born to Sri Lankan asylum seeker
parents currently living in residential housing adjacent to the facility.
He was born two months ago; it is believed the baby's mother became pregnant after
arriving from Christmas Island.
Some asylum seekers arriving via Christmas Island have languished at the facility
for more than a year, Ms Hanson-Young said.
"It's extremely sad this baby has been born essentially into captivity and is living
in captivity," she told AAP after also visiting the centre on Saturday.
"It's a depressing place. There's no doubt it is a jail."
She urged the federal government to speed up the asylum process so that detainees
are either accepted into Australia or rejected.
A Department of Immigration spokeswoman confirmed the infant was living with his
parents in residential accommodation near the centre.
It was born at a hospital and not the detention centre, the spokeswoman added.
Earlier Mr Abbott shrugged off suggestions his asylum-seeker policy was cruel,
saying the Rudd government's policy was the one that was uncompassionate.
"The cruellest thing you can do is put in place policies that encourage people
smugglers to put desperate people's lives at risk in leaky boats on the open sea,"
Mr Abbott told reporters ahead of his detention centre visit.
"There is nothing compassionate about policies which encourage people to put their
lives at risk and that's the problem with the Rudd government's policies."
Demonstrations are planned in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney on Sunday to
voice concerns about the alleged ethnic cleansing taking place in Afghanistan. A
large number of recent asylum seekers are Afghans.