Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I can assure you, Senator, it is not a replay, but it is very good news for the Australian taxpayer. If it were a replay, I would be telling you about the $2.5 billion this government returned to the Australian taxpayer in the budget as a result of last year's budget and the savings made by Operation Sovereign Borders. If it were a replay, I would be telling you about the $11 billion budget blow-out that you incurred in this portfolio when you were in government. But this is not a replay. This is a new figure for the benefit of all Australians.

Given the ongoing success of Operation Sovereign Borders, we will now provide the Australian taxpayer with savings of more than half a billion dollars in the 2015-16 budget. As I said, that is on top of the already $2.5 billion in savings that we provided to the budget in 2014-15. How has this been possible? When you stop the boats, the people stop coming. That is something that those on the other side just failed to comprehend. In stopping the boats and in stopping those arriving here illegally, the government has now managed to close many of the—