This failure to confront the damaging impact of our policies is again evident as we mark 12 years since Kevin Rudd’s 2013 avowal that asylum-seekers who arrived by boat would never settle in Australia. We urgently need an honest assessment of the devastating impact that Rudd’s policy has had. Far from the kindness and compassion that Albanese spoke of on election night 2023, for those who risked all to come by boat seeking safety in Australia the reality is vastly different.