Cabinet Papers 1990-91: from little things, Australia's asylum seeker policy grew

The Keating governments decision to introduce mandatory detention of asylum seekers in 1992 has long been recognised as a progenitor of the hardline policies that have been increasingly a feature of this fraught area of policy. Kerry OBrien asked Paul Keating about this in his recent interviews with the former Labor prime minister. Keating explained: To be honest, it was not a great human rights issue for cabinet at the time. Gerry Hand, a Left factional leader, was the immigration minister, Keating said, and it was taken for granted that he would have the human rights issues covered