With Kevin Rudd talking tough about the desperate people he calls "illegal immigrants", I've had to remind myself several times recently that Australia voted out the Howard Government.

We still have an excision zone, we still have mandatory detention, and now we even have a Prime Minister trying to convince our neighbours in Indonesia to take the 'problem' off his hands. All the while, Malcolm Turnbull and his colleagues are baying for even harsher treatment.

When people flee persecution, they deserve to be treated fairly and have their human rights upheld. The Greens will always stand up for human rights, and we will continue to fight for these people to be brought to mainland Australia so their applications for asylum can be processed quickly and fairly.

You can email Mr Rudd and Mr Turnbull and remind them that Australia rejected the politics of fear and hate.

Some points you might like to include:

• When people flee persecution, they deserve to be treated fairly and have their human rights upheld.
• Even though Australia voted out the Howard Government at the last election, we still have an excision zone and the policy of mandatory detention still exists.
• It is not acceptable to try and shift the 'problem' of asylum seekers to our neighbours in Indonesia.