Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I take it as a heavy blow. The point of all of this is that, if you look at the incompetence that prevailed when Labor was last in government, it still sits on that front bench. It has been 300 days since we have had a successful people-smuggling venture come to this country—300 days under Operation Sovereign Borders. The member for Watson could only manage six days. He tied, of course, with the member for Gorton, Mr O'Connor; he had six days as minister—a long period of six days between boat arrivals. A massive achievement, trumped of course by the member for McMahon, who was clearly an overachiever in the Labor government—it was 23 days. While he was writing his book about the success of Fuelwatch and Grocery Watch, he managed to get through 23 days with no boat arrivals. The point of all of this is that Labor ripped apart the economy when they were in government. They destroyed border security. If they are re-elected at the next election they will do it all again.

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