Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Will the minister inform the House of the outcomes of the Australian Customs vessel Ocean Shield's recently completed 42-day Southern Ocean patrol? How was this patrol made possible?

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

I thank the member for Lyons very much. He is a great advocate for Tasmania. He is a very strong voice in this place and I know that he is very concerned about making sure that we protect our Southern Ocean. The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service has an amazing job. They protect our borders and they are now protecting our waters. This 42-day venture was made possible because we have been able to stop the boats in north of Australia. We have been able to turn boats around where it is safe to do so. We have been able to deal with the mess that Labor left us when they left government only 18 months or so ago.

We have been able to apply some of these assets to have a look at some of the difficulties in the Southern Ocean. A 42-day venture is a long venture. I want to thank the crew very much for the work that they have been doing. They have traversed 6,000 kilometres of the Southern Ocean and they have been able to target those people who would seek to fish legally within our waters and to make sure that they can address all of those concerns that Australian fishermen and ventures have in relation to illegal ventures coming to our waters. As I say, this is only possible because we have been able to turn around what was a disastrous policy under Labor. It is worth noting that whilst the Labor Party has criticised us for this venture, it is the case that this is the first venture since 2012. That is because 2012 was the peak of activity on the waters between Indonesia and our country. In actual fact, the Australian public understand this issue well, because 52,000 people came on 821 boats when Labor was in power.

We have recognised in the last few days that the Leader of the Opposition has had every position but a positive one in relation to turning around boats when it is safe to do so. Let me make this very safe prediction that if Labor is elected at the next election and Bill Shorten becomes Prime Minister, then the people smugglers will be back in business. They will be back in business and we would not be allowing the Ocean Shield to head south to stop the illegal fishers, because all of our activities and all of our efforts would be applied to the north of our country.

I can tell you that when you see the Leader of the Opposition in action, you understand why Labor is a disaster when it comes to boats. If you do not turn those boats around when it is safe to do so, those boats will restart, the deaths at sea will recommence and detention centres in this country will refill. We have been able to close down 13 of Labor's detention centres, we have stopped those deaths at sea and we have got our border protection back under control.