Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown says Liberal Party Leader Tony Abbott's new election campaign television advertisement is xenophobic.

The advertisement promises action on ‘illegals', singling out the nations of Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.

"This campaign is xenophobic," said Senator Brown.

"It's a sign of things to come in the election campaign from the Coalition.

"It is not illegal for people to seek asylum.

"Mr Abbott is suggesting that Australia renege on its obligations under the UN convention on refugees.

Laurie Oakes: What's wrong with the way asylum seekers are treated in Indonesia at the moment? What sort of ground rules do we need?

Asylum seekers in Australian waters should be treated with humanity, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

"Australia has guaranteed that refugees from violence and tyranny will be given protection in our country as part of international law and common humanity," Senator Brown said.

"People who do not qualify as refugees will be sent home," he added.

"However, in our robust public debate, hate of others skids just below the surface. Mr Rudd and Mr Turnbull have a high obligation to repudiate this xenophobia."

The Australian government should make public Beijing's pressure campaign to stop Australia taking Guantanamo Bay inmates, who are Uighurs, found totally innocent of any charge, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

The Australian foreign ministry says ‘it is not our practice to divulge the content of discussions with foreign governments', but China's government is publicly demanding that the Uighurs are sent back to trial in China and, no doubt, further ill-treatment.

Australia should recognise climate change refugees as a legitimate category of humanitarian refugee, according to Australian Greens Leader Senator Brown.

"Without changing the number of refugees accepted into Australia, a simple broadening of the definition of humanitarian refugee, can hold the door open for refugees from low-lying countries affected by rising sea-levels."

"As a leading global climate polluter, Australia should recognise that the future is uncertain for many millions of people in the world's coastal areas - and that we are ready to play our part."

Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown has called for a full public and judicial inquiry into the Haneef affair, due compensation for Dr Haneef, and an apology from former Prime Minister Howard and the Ministers who were involved in this bungled international episode.

"The politics as well as the legal and ethical failures which have led to an innocent man being wrongly detained and deported under the glare of international publicity warrant a wider and more searching inquiry than has so far been completed."

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews must explain his dismissal of Dr Mohamed Haneef's four attempts to call the British police before his original effort to leave Australia, Greens leader Bob Brown said today.
 
"Andrews became judge, jury and sentencer when he overrode the Brisbane magistrate's decision to grant Haneef bail," Senator Brown said.
 

"Australian law excludes innuendo and uncorroborated evidence from the justice system. This basic ingredient of our law is being jettisoned by the decisions of Kevin Andrews and the Howard government," Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.
 
"I call on the Prime Minister to reaffirm his commitment to such basic principles of Australian justice," Senator Brown said.
 

Greens Leader Bob Brown will move that:
 
The Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs inquire into all aspects of the detention and release of Dr Mohammed Haneef including:
 
a)     The source and veracity of information upon which decisions were made;
b)     The Minister for Immigration's actions including his override of the Brisbane Magistrate's Court decision to grant Dr Haneef bail;
c)      The roles of other ministers including the Attorney-General and the Prime Minister;

Greens Leader Bob Brown says that Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews was seriously misinformed in deciding to detain Dr Mohamed Haneef and should reverse that decision.  
Citing today's report by Hedley Thomas in The Australian, Senator Brown said that if Minister Andrews relied on wrong departmental advice that Haneef lived with terrorism suspects in Britain, his detention of Haneef involves a serious miscarriage of justice.
 
"Minister Andrews must dispel the evidence that Haneef has been framed by false departmental advice," Senator Brown said.