Shortly after becoming prime minister for the second time in June 2013, Kevin Rudd announced a new arrangement with Papua New Guinea for the processing and resettlement of asylum seekers who arrived in Australia by boat.
Mr Rudd is rewriting history. The phrase "1year only" in Mr Rudd's tweet does not reflect the timing set out in the 2013 arrangement he signed. The document says the deal with PNG was for "an initial" 12-month period, which was to be followed by annual reviews. The arrangement could, and in fact did, continue beyond 12 months. And this timeframe relates only to the processing and resettlement arrangement with PNG. The Rudd government's overarching policy that asylum seekers arriving by boat without visas would not be settled in Australia was not described during key announcements at the time as being only for a short period. Mr Rudd's repeated message in the run-up to the September 2013 election was that "from now on" the business model of people smugglers wouldn't work "any more" because people arriving by boat without visas would "never" be permanently settled in Australia.
Fact check: Was Labor's PNG refugee deal for one year only?
['Australia', 'Kevin_Rudd', 'Papua_New_Guinea']