Gillard gets asylum seeker `lifeline`

Asylum seekers could be housed on Nauru if the federal government can't reach
agreement with East Timor after its president said he was open to signing the UN
convention on refugees.
As Prime Minister Julia Gillard prepares to front the National Press Club on
Thursday in her first address since ousting Kevin Rudd, the Pacific island nation
threw her a potential political lifeline over the issue of a regional refugee
processing centre.
The government has been considering East Timor because it is a signatory to the 1951
UN convention on refugees but the proposal has run into trouble with the country's
parliament.
Nauru came into contention on Tuesday when president Marcus Stephen said his cabinet
would consider signing the human rights framework depending on an assessment by the
justice department.
"I don't think that's a big hurdle. My country would be happy to look at the UN
convention," he told Fairfax Radio in Brisbane.
With Labor on a pre-election footing, Ms Gillard insists the East Timorese
government is still interested in setting up a regional processing centre for asylum
seekers, despite a reduced sitting of its parliament rejecting the idea.
"We, of course, are dealing with the East Timorese government. We have officials in
East Timor," Ms Gillard told reporters in Canberra.
"The East Timor government continues to confirm to us that it is open to the
dialogue about the regional processing centre and we're in that dialogue now."
Ms Gillard said the unanimous vote of just 34 of East Timor's 65 MPs on Monday was
"not well attended".
But opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison has described the rejection as a
"thumping vote of no confidence" in the federal government's asylum seeker policy.
"East Timor does not want to play any role in this political stunt by our prime
minister Julia Gillard to pursue her political purposes rather than genuinely
advance the interests of the region on what is a difficult and sensitive solution,"
Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
If an agreement can't be reached with East Timor, Nauru has indicated it would be
willing to help.
Mr Stephen said the detention centre facilities, which are temporarily being used as
a high school, could be used again to house asylum seekers.
"The conditions at the camp are pretty good," he said.
"Most of the services are in place - we're talking about services which even local
people didn't have access to like satellite phones, you've got your televisions."
The former Howard government brokered an agreement with Nauru in 2001 to accept
asylum seekers from Australia.
Labor's dismantling of the Pacific solution soon after coming to power in 2007 meant
asylum seekers were no longer sent to Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown urged the government not to consider Nauru,
describing the idea as costly and traumatic for asylum seekers.
With an election likely to be called soon, Ms Gillard has attempted to tackle some
major political hurdles.
A solution on asylum seekers is set to be followed by an announcement on climate
change but the prime minister didn't appear to be in any rush on Tuesday.
"The government is working its way through these issues," she said.
"And we will do so methodically, taking the time necessary to get it right."
Cabinet met in Canberra on Tuesday afternoon, in what could be the last strategy
session for senior ministers before an election is called.
Proving she has her mind on key voter groups, Ms Gillard announced a $220 million
promise on Tuesday to give parents a 50 per cent tax rebate for school uniforms from
mid-2011.
The promise will help 1.3 million families, which comes in handy during an election
year.